PUBLIC  DOCUMENTS, 


CONTAINING 


PROCEEDINGS    OF      THE     HARTFORD   CONVENTION     OF     DELEGATES   j 

REPORT  OF    THE  cdMMISSIONERS  WHILE  AT  WASHINGTON  J 

LETTERS  FROM  MASSACHUSETTS  MEMBERS  N  CONGRESS. 


LETTER  FROM  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  PENNSYLVANIA  J  REPORT  AND  RESO 
LUTIONS   OF    PENNSYLVANIA    STATE. 


LETTER  OF  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW-JERSEY,  INCLOSING  SUNDRY  PAPERS. 


LETTER    OF    GOVERNOR    O5'   NEW-YORK,   INCLOSING    SUNDRY    PAPERS. 

RELATING  TO  AMENDMENTS  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION, 

ij^. 
PR9POSED  BY  MASSACHUSETTS. 

:-    .    &F 


PUBLISHED  BY  ORDER  OF  TEE  SE5ATR 


1815. 


REPORT,  &c. 


THE  Delegates  from  the  Legislatures  of  the  States  of  Massa 
chusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode-Island,  and  from  the 
Counties  of  Graf  ton  and  Cheshire  in  the  State  of  New- 
Hampshire  and  the  county  of  Windham  in  the  State  of 
Vermont,  assembled  in  Convention,  beg  leave  to  report  the 
following  result  of  their  conference. 

THE  Convention  is  deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  ardu 
ous  nature  of  the  commission  which  they  were  appointed  to  exe 
cute,  of  devising  the  means  of  defence  against  dangers,  and  of  re 
lief  from  oppressions  proceeding  from  the  act  of  their  own  Go 
vernment,  without  violating  constitutional  principles,  or  disap 
pointing  the  hopes  of  a  suffering  and  injured  people.  To  pre 
scribe  patience  and  firmness  to  those  who  are  already  exhausted 
by  distress,  is  sometimes  to  drive  them  to  despair,  and  the  pro 
gress  towards  reform  by  the  regular  road,  is  irksome  to  those 
whose  imaginations  discern,  and  whose  feelings  prompt,  to  a 
shorter  course. — But  when  abuses,  reduced  to  system  and  accu 
mulated  through  a  course  of  years,  have  pervaded  every  depart 
ment  of  Government,  and  spread  corruption  through  every  re 
gion  of  the  State  ;  when  these  are  clothed  with  the  forms  of  law, 
and  enforced  by  an  Executive  whose  will  is  their  source,  no 
summary  means  of  relief  can  be  applied  without  recourse  to  di 
rect  and  open  resistance.  This  experiment,  even  when  justifia 
ble,  cannot  fail  to  be  painful  to  the  good  citizen  ;  and  the  suc 
cess  of  the  effort  will  be  no  security  against  the  danger  of  the 
example.  Precedents  of  resistance  to  the  worst  administration, 
are  eagerly  seized  by  those  who  are  naturally  hostile  to  the  best. 
Necessity  alone  can  sanction  a  resort  to  this  measure  ;  and  it 
should  never  be  extended  in  duration  or  degree  beyond  the  exi 
gency,  until  the  people,  not  merely  in  the  fervour  of  sudden 
•  •\riteinent,  but  after  full  deliberation,  are  determined  to  change 
the  Constitu' 

It  is  a  ••-    *    •  ••  irnent  r 

no  incon 
construct  ions  to  '  .        .    ;-3es 


M198484 


under  colour  of  its  authority,  that  the  time  for  a  change  is  ai 
hand.  Those  who  so  believe,  regard  the  evils  which  surround 
them  as  intrinsic  and  incurable  defects  in  the  Constitution. 
They  yield  to  a  persuasion,  that  no  change,  at  any  time,  or  on 
any  occasion,  can  aggravate  the  misery  of  their  country.  Thi* 
opinion  may  ultimately  prove  to  be  correct.  But  as  the  evi-, 
dence  on  which  it  rests  is  not  yet  conclusive,  and  as  measures 
adopted  upon  the  assumption  of  its  certainty  might  be  irrevoca 
ble,  some  general  considerations  are  submitted,  in  the  hope  of 
reconciling  all  to  a  course  of  moderation  and  firmness,  which  may 
save  them  from  the  regret  incident  to  sudden  decisions,  proba 
bly  avert  the  evil,  or  at  least  insure  consolation  and  success  in 
the  last  resort. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  under  the  auspices  of 
a  wise  and  virtuous  Administration,  proved  itself  competent  to  all 
ihc  objects  of  national  prosperity,  comprehended  in  the  views  of 
its  framers.  No  parallel  can  be  found  in  history,  of  a;  transition 
so  rapid  as  that  of  the  United  States  from  the  lowest  depression 
<o  the  highest  felicity — from  the  condition  of  weak  and  disjointed 
i-epublicks,  to  that  of  a  great,  united,  and  prosperous  nation. 

Although  this  high  state  of  publick  happiness  has  undergone  a 
miserable  and  afflicting  reverse,  through  the  prevalence  of  a  weak 
and  profligate  policy,  yet  the  evils  and  afflictions  which  have 
thus  been  induced  upon  the  country,  are  not  peculiar  to  any 
form  of  Government.  The  lust  and  caprice  of  power,  the  cor 
ruption  of  patronage,  the  oppression  of  the  weaker  interests  of 
the  community  by  the  stronger,  heavy  taxes,  wasteful  expendi 
tures,  and  unjust  and  ruinous  wars,  are  the  natural  offspring  of 
bad  Administrations,  in  all  ages  and  countries.  It  ^vas  indeed 
to  be  hoped,  that  the  rulers  of  these  States  would  not  make  such 
disastrous  haste  to  involve  their  infancy  in  the  embarrassments  of 
old  and  rotten  institutions.  Yet  ail  this  have  they  done  ;  and 
their  conduct  calls  loudly  for  their  dismission  and  disgrace.  But 
to  attempt  upon  every  abuse  of  power  to  change-the  Constitu 
tion,  would  be  to  perpetuate  the  evils  of  revolution. 

Again,  the  experiment  of  the  powers  of  the  Constitution,  to 
regain  its  vigour,  and  of  the  people  to  recover  from  their  delusions, 
has  been  hitherto  made  under  the  greatest  possible  disadvantages 
arising  from  the  state  of  the  world.  The  fierce  passions  which 
have  convulsed  the  nations  of  Europe,  have  passed  the  Ocean, 
and  finding  their  way  to  the  bosoms  of  our  citizens,  have  afforded 
to  Administration  the  means  of  perverting  publick  opinion,  in 
respect  to  our  foreign  relations,  so  as  to  acquire  its  aid  in  the 
indulgence  of  their  animosities,  and  the  increase  of  their  adhe 
rents.  Further,  a  reformation  of  publick  opinion,  resulting  from 
bought  experience,  in  the  Southern  Atlantick  States,  at  least, 


is  not  to  be  despaired  of.  They  will  have  felt,  that  the  Eastern 
States  cannot  be  made  exclusively  the  victims  of  a  capricious 
and  impassioned  policy. — They  will  have  seen  that  the  great  and 
essential  interests  of  the  people,  are  common  to  the  Sonth  and 
to  the  East.  They  will  realize  the  fatal  errours  of  a  system, 
which  seeks  revenge  for  commercial  injuries  in  the  sacrifice  of 
commerce,  and  aggravates  by  needless  wars,  to  an  immeasurable 
extent,  the  injuries  it  professes  to  redress.  They  may  discard 
the  influence  of  visionary  theorists,  and  recognize  the  benefits  of 
a  practical  policy.  Indications  of  this  desirable  revolution  of 
opinion,  among  our  brethren  in  those  States,  are  already  mani 
fested. — While  a  hope  remains  of  its  ultimate  completion,  its 
progress  should  not  be  retarded  or  stopped,  by  exciting  fears 
which  must  check  these  favourable  tendencies,  and  frustrate  the 
efforts  of  the  wisest  and  best  men  in  those  States,  to  accelerate 
this  propitious  change. 

Finally,  if  the  Union  be  destined  to  dissolution,  by  reason  of 
the  multiplied  abuses  of  bad  administrations,  it  should,  if  possible, 
be  the  work  of  peaceable  times,  and  deliberate  consent. — Some 
new  form  of  confederacy  should  be  substituted  among  those 
States,  which  shall  intend  to  maintain  a  federal  relation  to  each 
other. — Events  may  prove  that  the  causes  of  our  calamities  are 
deep  and  permanent.  They  may  be  found  to  proceed,  not  merely 
from  the  blindness  of  prejudice,  pride  of  opinion,  violence  of  party 
spirit,  or  the  confusion  of  the  times ;  but  they  may  be  traced  to 
implacable  combinations  of  individuals,  or  of  States,  to  monopo 
lize  power  and  office,  and  to  trample  without  remorse  upon  the 
rights  and  interests  of  commercial  sections  of  the  Union.  When 
ever  it  shall  appear  that  these  causes  are  radical  and  permanent, 
a  separation  by  equitable  arrangement,  will  be  preferable  to  an 
alliance  by  constraint,  among  nominal  friends,  but  real  enemies, 
inflamed  by  mutual  hatred  and  jealousies,  and  inviting  by  intestine 
divisions,  contempt,  and  aggression  from  abroad.  But  a  severance 
of  the  Union  by  one  or  more  States,  against  the  will  of  the  rest, 
and  especially  in  a  time  of  war,  can  be  justified  only  by  absolute 
Jiecessity.  These  are  among  the  principal  objections  against 
precipitate  measures  tending  to  disunite  the  States,  and  when 
examined  in  connexion  with  the  farewell  address  of  the  Father 
of  his  country,  they  must,  it  is  believed,  be  deemed  conclusive. 

Under  these  impressions,  the  Convention  have  proceeded  to- 
confer  and  deliberate  upon  the  alarming  state  of  publick  affairs, 
especially  as  affecting  the  interests  of  the  people  who  have  ap 
pointed  them  for  this  purpose,  and  they  are  naturally  led  to  a 
consideration,  in  the  first  place,  of  the  dangers  and  grievances 
which  menace  an  immediate  or  speedy  pressure,  with  a  view  of 
g  means  of  present  relief:  in  1he  next  place,  of  such 


as  are  of  a  uiore  remote  and  general  description,  in  the  hope  of 
attaining  future  security. 

Among  the  subjects  of  complaint  and  apprehension,  which 
might  be  comprised  under  the  former  of  these  propositions,  the 
attention  of  the  Convention  has  been  occupied  with  the  claims 
and  pretensions  advanced,  and  the  authority  exercised  over  the 
militia,  by  the  executive  and  legislative  departments  of  the  Na 
tional  Government.  Also,  upon  the  destitution  of  the  means  of 
defence  in  which  the  Eastern  States  are  left ;  while  at  the  same 
time  they  are  doomed  to  heavy  requisitions  of  men  and  money 
for  national  objects. 

The  authority  of  the  National  Government  over  the  militia  is 
derived  from  those  clauses  in  the  Constitution  which  give  power 
to  Congress  "  to  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia,  to  execute 
1he  laws  of  the  Union,  suppress  insurrections  and  repel  inva 
sions" — Also,  "  to  provide  for  organizing,  arming  and  discipli 
ning  the  militia,  and  for  governing  such  parts  of  them  as  may 
be  employed  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  reserving  to 
the  States  respectively  the  appointment  of  the  officers,  and  the 
authority  of  training  the  militia  according  to  the  discipline  pre 
scribed  by  Congress."  Again,  <'7  The  President  shall  be  Com 
mander  in  Chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  and 
of  the  militia  of  the  several  States,  when  called  into  the  actual 
service  of  the  United  Stales.19  In  these  specified  cases  only, 
lias  the  National  Government  any  power  over  the  militia  ;  and  it 
follows  conclusively,  that  for  all  general  and  ordinary  purposes, 
this  power  belongs  to  the  States  respectively,  and  to  them  alone. 
It  is  not  only  with  regret,  but  with  astonishment,  the  Convention 
perceive  that  under  colour  of  an  authority  conferred  with  such 
plain  and  precise  limitations,  a  power  is  arrogated  by  the  execu 
tive  government,  and  in  some  instances  sanctioned  by  the  ttfo 
Houses  of  Congress,  of  control  over  the  militia,  which  if  conce 
ded,  will  render  nugatory  the  rightful  authority  of  the  individual 
States  over  that  class  of  men,  and  by  placing  at  the  disposal  of 
the  National  Government  the  lives  and  services  of  the  great  body 
of  the  people,  enable  it  at  pleasure  to  destroy  their  liberties,  and 
erect  a  military  despotism  on  the  ruins. 

An  elaborate  examination  of  the  principles  assumed  for  the 
basis  of  these  extravagant  pretensions,  of  the  consequences  to 
which  they  lead,  and  of  the  insurmountable  objections  to  their 
•admission,  would  transcend  the  limits  of  this  Report.  A  few 
general  observations,  wi'th  an  exhibition  of  the  character  of  these 
pretensions,  and  a  recommendation  of  a  strenuous  opposition  to 
them,  must  not  however  be  omitted. 

It  will  not  be  contended,  that  by  the  terms  used  in  the  con 
stitutional  compact,  the  power  of  the  National  Government  to 


call  out  the  militia  is  other  than  a  power  expressly  limited  to 
three  cases.  One  of  these  must  exist  as  a  condition  precedent 
to  the  exercise  of  that  power — Unless  the  laws  shall  be  opposed, 
or  an  insurrection  shall  exist,  or  an  invasion  shall  be  made,  Con 
gress,  and  of  consequence  the  President  as  their  organ,  has  no 
more  power  over  the  militia  than  over  the  armies  of  a  foreign 
nation. 

But  if  the  declaration  of  the  President  should  be  admitted  to 
be  an  unerring  test  of  the  existence  of  these  cases,  this  important 
power  would  depend,  not  upon  the  truth  of  the  fact,  but  upon  ex 
ecutive  infallibility ;  and  the  limitation  of  the  power  would 
consequently  be  nothing  more  than  merely  nominal,  as  it  might 
always  be  eluded.  It  follows  therefore  that  the  decision  of  the 
President  in  this  particular  cannot  be  conclusive.  It  is  as  much 
the  duty  of  the  State  authorities  to  watch  over  the  rights  reserv 
ed)  as  of  the  United  States  to  exercise  the  powers  which  are 
delegated. 

The  arrangement  of  the.  United  States  into  military  districts, 
with  a  small  portion  of  the  regular  force,  under  an  officer  of  high 
rank  of  the  standing  army,  with  power  to  call  for  the  militia,  as 
circumstances  in  his  judgment  may  require ;  and  to  assume  the 
command  of  them,  is  not  warranted  by  the  Constitution  or  any 
law  of  the  United  States-  It  is  not  denied  that  Congress  may 
delegate  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  the  power  to  call 
forth  the  militia  in  the  cases  which  are  within  their  jurisdiction — 
But  he  has  no  authority  to  substitute  military  prefects  through 
out  the  Union,  to  use  their  own  discretion  in  such  instances.  To 
station  an  officer  of  the  army  in  a  military  district  without  troops 
corresponding  to  his  rank,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  command 
of  the  militia  that  may  be  called  into  service,  is  a  manifest  evasion 
of  that  provision  of  the  Constitution  which  expressly  reserves  to 
the  States  the  appointment  of  the  officers  of  the  militia  ;  and  the 
object  of  detaching  such  officer  cannot  be  well  conceived  to  be 
any  other,  than  that  of  superseding  the  Governour  or  other  officers 
of  the  militia  in  their  right  to  command. 

The  power  of  dividing  the  militia  of  the  States  into  classes,  and 
obliging  such  classes  to  furnish  by  contract  or  draft,  able  bodied 
men,  to  serve  for  one  or  more  years  for  the  defence  of  the  fron 
tier,  is  not  delegated  to  Congress.  If  a  claim  to  draft  the  militia 
for  one  year  for  such  general  object  be  admissible,  no  limitation 
can  be  assigned  to  it,  but  the  discretion  of  those  who  make  the 
law.  Thus  with  a  power  in  Congress  to  authorise  such  a  draft 
or  conscription,  and  in  the  Executive  to  decide  conclusively 
upon  the  existence  and  continuance  of  the  emergency,  the  whole 
militia  may  be  converted  into  a  standing  army  disposable  at  the 
will  of  the  President  of  the  United  States. 


The  power  of  compelling  the  militia  and  other  citizens  of  (he 
tlnited  States,  by  a  forcible  draft  or  conscription  to  serve  in  the 
regular  armies,  as  proposed  in  a  late  official  letter  of  the  Secretary 
of  War,  is  not  delegated  to  Congress  by  the  Constitution,  and 
the  exercise  of  it  would  be  not  less  dangerous  to  their  liberties, 
than  hostile  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  States.  The  effort  to  de 
duce  this  power  from  the  right  of  raising  armies,  is  a  flagrant 
attempt  to  pervert  the  sense  of  the  clause  in  the  Constitution 
which  confers  that  right,  and  is  incompatible  with  other  pro 
visions  in  that  instrument.  The  armies  of  the  United  States 
have  always  been  raised  by  contract,  never  by  conscription,  and 
nothing  more  can  be  wanting  to  a  Government,  poisessing  the 
power  thus  claimed,  to  enable  it  to  usurp  the  entire  control  of 
the  militia,  in  derogation  of  the  authority  of  the  State,  and  to 
convert  it  by  impressment  into  a  standing  army. 

It  may  be  here  remarked,  as  a  circumstance  illustrative  of  the 
determination  of  the  Executive  to  establish  an  absolute  control 
over  all  descriptions  of  citizens,  that  the  right  of  impressing  sea 
men  into  the  naval  service  is  expressly  asserted  by  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Navy  in  a  late  report  Thus  a  practice,  which  in  a 
foreign  government  has  been  regarded  with  great  abhorrence  by 
the  people,  finds  advocates  among  those  who  have  been  the  loud 
est  to  condemn  it. 

The  law  authorizing  the  enlistment  of  minors  and  apprentices 
into  the  armies  of  the  United  States,  without  the  consent  of 
parents  and  guardians,  is  also  repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  the  Con 
stitution.  By  a  construction  of  the  power  to  raise  armies,  a» 
applied  by  our  present  rulers,  not  only  persons  capable  of  con 
tracting  are  liable  to  be  impressed  into  the  army,  but  those  who 
are  under  legal  disabilities  to  make  contracts,  are  to  be  invested 
with  this  capacity,  in  order  to  enable  them  to  annul  at  pleasure 
contracts  made  in  their  behalf  by  legal  guardians.  Such  an 
interference  with  the  municipal  laws  and  rights  of  the  several 
States,  could  never  have  been  contemplated  by  the  framers  of 
the  Constitution.  It  impairs  the  salutary  control  and  influence 
of  the  parent  over  his  child — the  master  over  his  servant — the 
guardian  over  his  ward— and  thus  destroys  the  most  important 
relations  in  society,  so  that  by  the  conscription  of  the  father,  and 
the  seduction  of  the  son,  the  power  of  the  Executive  over  all  the 
effective  male  population  of  the  United  States  is  made  complete. 

Such  are  some  of  the  odious  features  of  the  novel  system  pro 
posed  by  the  rulers  of  a  free  country,  under  the  limited  powers 
derived  from  the  Constitution.  What  portion  of  them  will  be 
embraced  in  acts  finally  to  be  passed,  it  is  yet  impossible  to  de 
termine.  It  is,  however,  sufficiently  alarming  to  perceive,  that 
these  projectse  manate  from  the  highest  authority ;  nor  should  it 


be  forgotten,  thai  by  the  plan  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  the  clas 
sification  of  the  militia  embraced  the  principle  of  direct  taxation 
upon  tiie  white  population  only;  and  that,  in  the  House  of  lle- 
presenta'ivr-;,  a  motion  to  apportion  !ho  militia  among  the  white 
po  udafion  exclusively,  which  would  have  been  in  its  operation  a 
direct  tax,  was  strenuously  urged  and  supported. 

In  this  whole  series  of  devices  and  measures  for  raising  men, 
this  Convention  discern  a  total  disregard  for  the  Constitution,  and 
a  disposition  to  violate  its  provisions,  demanding  from  the  indi 
vidual  States  a  firm  and  decided  opposition.  An  iron  despotism 
can  impose  no  harder  servitude  upon  the  citizen,  than  to  force 
him  from  his  home  and  his  occupation,  to  wage  offensive  wars, 
inrlerlaken  to  gratify  the  pride  or  passions  of  his  mas'er.  The 
example  of  France  has  recently  shewn  that  a  cabal  of  individuals 
assuming  to  act  in  the  name  of  the  people,  may  transform  the 
great  body  of  citizens  into  soldiers,  and  deliver  them  over  into 
the  hands  of  a  single  tyrant.  No  war,  not  held  in  just  abhor 
rence  by  a  people,  can  require  the  aid  of  such  stratagems  to 
recruit  an  army.  Had  the  troops  already  raised,  and  in  great. 
number*  sacrificed  upon  the  frontier  of  Canada,  been  employed 
for  the  defence  of  the  country,  and  had  the  millions  which  have 
been  squandered  with  shameless  profusion,  been  appropriated  to 
their  payment,  to  the  protection  of  the  coast,  and  to  the  naval 
service,  there  would  have  been  no  occasion  for  unconstitutional 
expedients.  Even  at  this  late  hour,  let  Government  leave  to 
New-England  the  remnant  of  her  resources,  and  she  is  ready  and 
able  to  defend  her  territory,  and  to  resign  the  glories  and  advan 
tages  of  the  border  war,  to  those  who  are  determined  to  persist 
in  its  prosecution. 

That  acts  of  Congress  in  violation  of  the  Constitution  are  ab 
solutely  void,  is  an  undeniable  position.  It  does  not,  however, 
consist  with  (he  respect  and  forbearance  due  from  a  confederate 
State  towards  the  General  Government,  to  fly  to  open  resistance 
upon  every  infraction  of  the  Constitution.  The  mode  and  the 
energy  of  ihe  opposition  should  always  conform  to  the  nature 
of  the  violation,  the  intention  of  its  authors,  the  extent  of  the 
injury  inflicted,  the  determination  manifested  to  persist  in  it,  and 
the  danger  of  delay.  But  in  cases  of  deliberate,  dangerous,  and 
palpable  infractions  of  the  Constitution,  affecting  the  sovereignty 
of  a  State,  and  liberties  of  the  people  ;  it  is  not  only  the  right 
but  the  duty  of  such  a  State  to  interpose  its  authority  for  their 
protection,  in  the  manner  best  calculated  to  secure  that  end. 
When  emergencies  occur  which  are  either  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  judicial  tribunals,  or  too  pressing  to  admit  of  the  delay  inci 
dent  to  their  forms,  States,  which  have  no  common  umpire,  must 

be  their  own  judges,   and  execute  their  own  decisions.     It  will 
o 


10 

thus  be  proper  for  the  several  States  to  await  the  ultimate  dis 
posal  of  the  obnoxious  measures,  recommended  by  the  Secretary 
of  War,  or  pending  before  Congress,  and  so  to  use  their  power 
according  to  the  character  these  measures  shall  finally  assume, 
as  effectually  to  protect  their  own  sovereignty,  and  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  their  citizens. 

The  next  subject  which  has  occupied  the  attention  of  the 
Convention,  is  the  means  of  defence  against  the  common  enemy. 
This  naturally  leads  to  the  inquiries,  whether  any  expectation 
can  be  reasonably  entertained,  that  adequate  provision  for  the 
defence  of  the  Eastern  States  will  be  made  by  the  National 
Government  ?  Whether  the  several  States  can,  from  their  own 
resources,  provide  for  self-defence  and  fulfil  the  requisitions 
which  are  to  be  expected  for  the  national  Treasury  ?  and,  gene 
rally,  what  course  of  conduct  ought  to  be  adopted  by  those 
States,  in  relation  to  the  great  object  of  defence  ? 

Without  pausing  at  present  to  comment  upon  the  causes  of 
the  war,  it  may  be  assumed  as  a  truth,  officially  announced,  that 
to  achieve  the  conquest  of  Canadian  territory,  and  to  hold  it  as 
a  pledge  for  peace,  is  the  deliberate  purpose  of  Administration. 
This  enterprise,  commenced  at  a  period  when  Government  pos 
sessed  the  advantage  of  selecting  the  time  and  occasion  for  mak 
ing  a  sudden  descent  upon  an  unprepared  enemy,  now  languishes 
in  the  third  year  of  the  war.  It  has  been  prosecuted  with  vari 
ous  fortune,  and  occasional  brilliancy  of  exploit,  but  without  any 
solid  acquisition.  The  British  armies  have  been  recruited  by 
veteran  regiments.  Their  navy  commands  Ontario.  The  Ame 
rican  ranks  are  thinned  by  the  casualties  of  war.  Recruits  are 
discouraged  by  the  unpopular  character  of  the  contest,  and  by 
the  uncertainty  of  receiving  their  pay. 

In  the  prosecution  of  this  favourite  warfare,  Administration 
have  left  the  exposed  and  vulnerable  parts  of  the  country  desti 
tute  of  all  efficient  means  of  defence.  The  main  body  of  the 
regular  army  has  been  marched  to  the  frontier. — The  navy  has 
been  stripped  of  a  great  part  of  its  sailors  for  the  service  of  the 
Lakes.  Meanwhile  the  enemy  scours  the  sea-coast,  blockades 
our  ports,  ascends  our  bays  and  rivers,  makes  actual  descents  in 
various  and  distant  places,  holds  some  by  force,  and  threatens 
all  that  are  assailable  with  fire  and  sword.  The  sea-board  of 
four  of  the  New-England  States,  following  its  curvatures,  pre 
sents  an  extent  of  more  than  seven  hundred  miles,  generally  oc 
cupied  by  a  compact  population,  and  accessible  by  a  naval  force, 
exposing  a  mass  of  people  and  property  to  the  devastation  of 
the  enemy,  which  bears  a  great  proportion  to  the  residue  of  the 
maritime  frontier  of  the  United  States.  This  extensive  shore 
has  been  exposed  to  frequent  attacks,  repeated  contributions. 


11 

and  constant  alarms.  The  regular  forces  detached  by  the  na 
tional  Government  for  its  defence,  are  mere  pretexts  for  placing 
o.licers  of  high  rank  in  command.  They  are  besides  confined 
to  a  few  places,  and  are  too  insignificant  in  number  to  be  includ 
ed  in  any  computation. 

These  States  have  thus  been  left  to  adopt  measures  for  their 
own  defence.  The  militia  have  been  constantly  kept  on  the  alert, 
and  harassed  by  garrison  duties,  and  other  hardships,  while  the 
expenses,  of  which  the  National  Government  decline  the  reim 
bursement,  threaten  to  absorb  all  the  resources  of  the  States. 
The  President  of  the  United  States  has  refused  to  consider  the 
expense  of  the  militia  detached  by  state  authority,  for  the  indis 
pensable  defence  of  the  State,  as  chargeable  to  the  Union,  on  the 
ground  of  a  refusal  by  the  Executive  of  the  State,  to  place  them 
under  the  command  of  officers  of  the  regular  army.  Detachments 
of  militia  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  General  Government,  have 
been  dismissed  either  without  pay,  or  with  depreciated  paper. 
The  prospect  of  the  ensuing  campaign  is  not  enlivened  by  the 
promise  of  any  alleviation  of  these  grievances.  From  authen- 
tick  documents,  extorted  by  necessity  from  those  whose  incli 
nation  might  lead  them  to  conceal  the  embarrassments  of  the 
Government,  it  is  apparent  that  the  treasury  is  bankrupt,  and 
its  credit  prostrate.  So  deplorable  is  the  state  of  the  finances, 
that  those  who  feel  for  the  honour  and  safety  of  the  country, 
would  be  willing  to  conceal  the  melancholy  spectacle,  if  those 
whose  infatuation  has  produced  this  state  of  fiscal  concerns,  had 
not  found  themselves  compelled  to  unveil  it  to  public  view. 

If  the  war  be  continued,  there  appears  no  room  for  reliance 
upon  the  national  government  for  the  supply  of  those  means  of 
defence,  which  must  become  indispensable  to  secure  these 
States  from  desolation  and  ruin.  Nor  is  it  possible  that  the 
States  can  discharge  this  sacred  duty  from  their  own  resources, 
and  continue  to  sustain  the  burden  of  the  national  taxes.  The 
Administration,  after  a  long  perseverance  in  plans  to  baffle  every 
effort  of  commercial  enterprise,  had  fatally  succeeded  in^  their 
attempts  at  the  epoch  of  the  war.  Commerce,  the  vital  spring 
of  New-England's  prosperity,  was  annihilated.  Embargoes,  re 
strictions,  and  the  rapacity  of  revenue  officers,  had  completed 
its  destruction.  The  various  objects  for  the  employment  of 
productive  labour,  in  the  branches  of  business  dependent  on 
commerce,  have  disappeared.  The  fisheries  have  shared  its 
fate.  Manufactures,  which  Government  has  professed  an  in 
tention  to  favour  and  to  cherish,  as  an  indemnity  for  the  failure 
of  these  branches  of  business,  are  doomed  to  struggle  in  their  in 
fancy  with  taxes  and  obstructions,  which  cannot  fail  most  seri 
ously  to  affect  their  growth.  The  specie  is  withdrawn  from 


12 

circulation.  The  landed  interest,  the  last  to  feel  these  burdens, 
must  prepare  to  become  their  principal  support,  as  all  other 
sources  of  revenue  must  be  exhausted.  Under  these  circum 
stances,  taxes,  of  a  description  and  amount  unprecedented  in 
this  country,  are  in  a  train  of  imposition,  the  burden  of  which 
must  fall  with  the  heaviest  pressure  upon  the  states  east  of  the 
Potowmac.  The  amount  of  these  taxes  for  the  ensuing  year, 
cannot  be  estimated  at  less  than  five  millions  of  dollars  upon  the 
New-England  States,  and  the  expenses  of  the  last  year  for  de 
fence,  in  Massachusetts  alone,  approaches  to  one  million  of 
dollars. 

From  these  facts,  it  is  almost  superfluous  to  state  the  irre 
sistible  inference,  that  these  States  have  no  capacity  of  defray 
ing  the  expense  requisite  for  their  own  protection,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  of  discharging  the  demands  of  the  national  treasury. 

The  last  inquiry,  what  course  of  conduct  ought  to  be  adopted 
by  the  aggrieved  States,  is  in  a  high  degree  momentous.  When 
a  great  and  brave  people  shall  feel  themselves  deserted  by  their 
Government,  and  reduced  to  the  necessity  either  of  submission 
to  a  foreign  enemy,  or  of  appropriating  to  their  own  use  those 
means  of  defence  which  are  indispensable  to  self-preservation, 
they  cannot  consent  to  wait  passive  spectators  of  approaching 
rum,  which  it  is  in  their  power  to  avert,  and  to  resign  the  last 
remnant  of  their  industrious  earnings,  to  be  dissipated  in  support 
of  measures  destructive  of  the  best  interests  of  the  nation. 

This  Convention  will  not  trust  themselves  to  express  their 
conviction  of  the  catastrophe  to  which  such  a  state  of  things  in 
evitably  tends.  Conscious  of  their  high  responsibility  to  God 
and  their  country,  solicitous  for  the  continuance  of  the  Union, 
as  well  as  the  sovereignty  of  the  States,  unwilling  to  furnish  ob 
stacles  to  peace — resolute  never  to  submit  to  a  foreign  enemy, and 
confiding  in  the  Divine  care  and  protection,  they  will,  until  the 
last  hope  shall  be  extinguished,  endeavour  to  avert  such  conse 
quences. 

With  this  view  they  suggest  an  arrangement,  which  may  at, 
once  be  consistent  with  the  honour  and  interest  of  the  National 
Government,  and  the  security  of  these  States.  This  it  will  not 
be  difficult  to  conclude,  if  that  government  should  be  so  dis 
posed.  By  the  terms  of  it  these  States  might  be  allowed  to  as 
sume  their  own  defence,  by  the  militia  or  other  troops.  A  rea 
sonable  portion,  also,  of  the  taxes  raised  in  each  State  might  be 
paid  into  its  treasury,  and  credited  to  the  United  States,  but  to 
be  appropriated  to  the  defence  of  such  Slate,  to  be  accounted 
for  with  the  United  States.  No  doubt  is  entertained,  that  by 
such  an  arrangement,  this  portion  of  the  country  could  be  de- 
iended  with  greater  effect,  and  in  a  mode  more  consistent  with 


13 

economy,  and  the  public  convenience,  than  any  which  has  been 
practised. 

Should  an  application  for  these  purposes,  made  to  Congress 
by  Ihe  State  Legislatures,  be  attended  with  success,  and  should 
peace  upon  just  terms  appear  to  be  unattainable,  the  people  would 
stand  together  for  the  common  defence,  until  a  change  of  Ad 
ministration,  or  of  disposition  in  the  enemy,  should  facilitate  the 
occurrence  of  that  auspicious  event.  It  would  be  inexpedient 
for  this  Convention  to  diminish  the  hope  of  a  successful  issue  to 
such  an  application,  by  recommending,  upon  supposition  of  a  con- 
trarv  event,  ulterior  proceedings.  Nor  is  it  indeed  within  their 
province.  In  a  state  of  things  so  solemn  and  trying  as  may 
then  arise,  the  Legislatures  of  the  Slates,  or  Conventions  of  the 
whole  people,  or  delegates  appointed  by  them  for  the  express 
purpose  in  another  Convention,  must  act  as  such  urgent  circum 
stances  may  then  require. 

Bui  the  duty  incumbent  on  this  Convention  will  not  have  been 
performed,  without  exhibiting  some  general  view  of  such  mea 
sures  as  they  deem  essential  to  secure  the  nation  against  a  relapse 
info  difficulties  and  dangers,  should  they,  by  the  blessing  of 
Providence,  escape  from  their  present  condition  without  abso 
lute  ruin.  To  this  end,  a  concise  retrospect  of  the  state  of  this 
nation  under  the  advantages  of  a  wise  Administration,  contrasted 
with  the  miserable  abyss  into  which  it  is  plunged  by  the  profliga 
cy  and  folly  of  political  theorists,  will  lead  to  some  practical  con 
clusions.  On  this  subject,  it  will  be  recollected,  that  the  imme 
diate  influence  of  (he  Federal  Constitution  upon  its  first  adop 
tion,  and  for  twelve  succeeding  years,  upon  the  prosperity  and 
happiness  of  the  nation,  seemed  to  countenance  a  belief  in  the 
transcendency  of  its  perfection  over  all  other  human  institutions. 
In  the  catalogue  of  blessings  which  have  fallen  to  the  lot  of  the 
most  favoured  nations,  none  could  be  enumerated  from  which  our 
country  was  excluded — A  free  Constitution,  administered  by 
great  and  incorruptible  statesmen,  realized  the  fondest  hopes  of 
liberty  and  independence — The  progress  of  agriculture  was 
stimulated  by  the  certainty  of  value  in  the  harvest — and  com 
merce,  after  traversing  every  sea,  returned  with  the  riches  of 
every  clime. — A  revenue,  secured  by  a  sense  of  honour,  collected 
without  oppression,  and  paid  without  murmurs,  melted  away  the 
national  debt ;  and  the  chief  concern  of  the  publick  creditor  arose 
from  its  too  rapid  diminution. — The  wars  and  commotions  of  the 
European  nations,  and  the  interruptions  of  their  commercial 
intercourse  afforded  to  those,  who  had  not  promoted,  but  who 
would  have  rejoiced  to  alleviate  their  calamities,  a  fair  and  golden 
opportunity,  by  enriching  themselves  to  lay  a  broad  foundation 
for  national  wealth. — Although  occasional  vexations  to  com- 


14 

merce  arose  from  the  furious  collisions  of  the  powers  at  war, 
yet  the  great  and  good  men  of  that  time  conformed  to  the  force 
of  circumstances  which  they  could  not  control,  and  preserved 
their  country  in  security  from  the  tempests,  which  overwhelmed 
the  old  world,  and  threw  the  wreck  of  their  fortunes  on  these 
shores. — Respect  abroad,  prosperity  at  home,  wise  laws  made 
by  honoured  legislators,  and  prompt  obedience  yielded  by  a  con 
tented  people,  had  silenced  the  enemies  of  republican  institu 
tions. — The  arts  flourished — the  sciences  were  cultivated — the 
comforts  and  conveniences  of  life  were  universally  diffused — and 
nothing  remained  for  succeeding  administrations,  but  to  reap  the 
advantages,  and  cherish  the  resources,  flowing  from  the  policy 
of  their  predecessors. 

But  no  sooner  was  a  new  administration  established  in  the 
hands  of  the  party  opposed  to  the  Washington  policy,  than  a 
fixed  determination  was  perceived  and  avowed  of  changing  a  sys 
tem  which  had  already  produced  these  substantial  fruits.  The 
consequences  of  this  change,  for  a  few  years  after  its  commence 
ment,  were  not  sufficient  to  counteract  the  prodigious  impulse 
towards  prosperity,  which  had  been  given  to  the  nation.  But  a 
steady  perseverance  in  the  new  plajis  of  administration  at  length 
developed  their  weakness  and  deformity,  but  not  until  a  majority 
of  the  people  had  been  deceived  by  flattery,  and  inflamed  by 
passion,  into  blindness  to  their  defects.  Under  the  withering 
influence  of  this  new  system,  the  declension  of  the  nation  has 
been  uniform  and  rapid.  The  richest  advantages  for  securing 
the  great  objects  of  the  Constitution  have  been  wantonly  rejected. 
While  Europe  reposes  from  the  convulsions  that  had  shaken 
down  her  ancient  institutions,  she  beholds  with  amazement  this 
remote  country,  once  so  happy  and  so  envied,  involved  in  a  ru 
inous  war,  and  excluded  from  intercourse  with  the  rest  of  the 
world. 

To  investigate  and  explain  the  means  whereby  this  fatal  re 
verse  has  been  effected,  would  require  a  voluminous  discussion. 
Nothing  more  can  be  attempted  in  thjs  Report,  than  a  general 
allusion  to  the  principal  outlines  of  the  policy  which  has  pro 
duced  this  vicissitude.  Among  these  may  be  enumerated 

First. — A  deliberate  and  extensive  system  for  effecting  a 
combination  among  certain  States,  by  exciting  local  jealousies 
and  ambition,  so  as  to  secure  to  popular  leaders  in  one  section  of 
the  Union,  the  control  of  publick  affairs,  in  perpetual  succession. 
To  which  primary  object  most  other  characteristicks  of  the  sys 
tem  may  be  reconciled. 

Secondly. — The  political  intolerance  displayed  and  avowed, 
in  excluding  from,  office  men  of  unexceptionable  merit,  for  want 
of  adherence  to  the  executive  creed. 


15 

Thirdly. — The  infraction  of  the  judiciary  authority  and 
rights,  by  depriving  judges  of  their  offices  in  violation  of  the 
Constitution. 

Fourthly. — The  abolition  of  existing  Taxes,  requisite  to  pre 
pare  the  Country  for  (hose  changes  to  which  nations  are  always 
exposed,  with  a  view  to  Ihe  acquisition  of  popular  favour. 

Fifthly. — The  influence  of  patronage  in  the  distribution  of 
offices,  which  in  these  s(ates  has  been  almost  invariably  made 
among  men  the  least  entitled  to  such  distinction,  and  who  have 
sold  themselves  as  ready  instruments  for  distracting  publick 
opinion,  and  encouraging  administration  to  hold  in  contempt  the 
wishes  and  remonstrances  of  a  people  thus  apparently  divided. 

Sixthly. — The  admission  of  new  States  into  the  Union,  form 
ed  at  pleasure  in  the  western  region,  has  destroyed  the  balance 
of  power  which  existed  among  the  original  States,  and  deeply 
affected  their  interest. 

Seventhly. — The  easy  admission  of  naturalized  foreigners 
to  places  of  trust,  honour  or  profit,  operating  as  an  inducement 
to  the  malcontent  subjects  of  the  old  world  to  r.ome  to  these 
States,  in  quest  of  executive  patronage,  and  to  repay  it  by  an 
abject  devotion  to  executive  measures. 

Eighthly. — Hostility  to  Great-Britain,  and  partiality  to  the 
late  government  of  France,  adopted  as  coincident  with  popular 
prejudice,  and  subservient  to  the  main  object,  party  power. 
Connected  with  these  must  be  ranked  erroneous  and  distorted 
estimates  of  the  power  and  resources  of  those  nations,  of  the  pro 
bable  results  of  their  controversies,  and  of  our  political  relations 
to  them  respectively. 

Lastly  and  principally. — A  visionary  and  superficial  theory 
in  regard  to  commerce,  accompanied  by  a  real  hatred  but  a  feign 
ed  regard  to  its  interests,  and  a  ruinous  perseverance  in  efforts 
to  render  it  an  instrument  of  coercion  and  war. 

But  it  is  not  conceivable  that  the  obliquity  of  any  administra 
tion  could,  in  so  short  a  period,  have  so  nearly  consummated 
the  work  of  national  ruin,  unless  favoured  by  defects  in  the 
Constitution. 

To  enumerate  all  the  improvements  of  which  that  instrument 
is  susceptible,  and  to  propose  such  amendments  as  might  render 
it  in  all  respects  perfect,  would  be  a  task,  which  this  Convention 
has  not  thought  proper  to  assume. — They  have  confined  their 
attention  to  such  as  experience  has  demonstrated  to  be  essential, 
and  even  among  these,  some  are  considered  entitled  to  a  more 
serious  attention  than  others.  They  are  suggested  without  any 
intentional  disrespect  to  other  States,  and  are  meant  to  be  such 
as  all  shall  find  an  interest  in  promoting.  Their  object  is  to 
strengthen,  and  if  possible  to  perpetuate,  the  Union  of  the 
by  removing  the  grounds  of  existing  jealousies,  and  pro- 


16 

viding  for  a  fair  and  equal  representation,  and  a  limitation  of  pow 
ers  which  have  been  misused. 

The  first  amendment  proposed,  relates  to  the  apportionment 
of  Representatives  among  the  slave-holding  States.  This  can 
not  be  claimed  as  aright.  *  Those  States  are  entitled  to  the  slave 
representation,  by  a  constitutional  compact.  It  is  therefore 
merely  a  subject  of  agreement,  which  should  be  conducted  upon 
principles  of  mutual  interest  and  accommodation,  and  upon  which 
no  sensibility  on  either  side  should  be  permitted  to  exist.  It 
has  proved  unjust  and  unequal  in  its  operation.  Had  this  effect 
been  foreseen,  the  privilege  would  probably  not  have  been  de 
manded  ;  certainly  not  conceded.  Its  tendency  in  future  will 
be  adverse  to  that  harmony  and  mutual  confidence,  which  are 
more  conducive  to  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  every  con 
federated  State,  than  a  mere  preponderance  of  power,  the  prolifick 
source  of  jealousies  and  controversy,  can  be  to  any  one  of  them. 
The  time  may  therefore  arrive,  when  a  sense  of  magnanimity 
and  justice  will  reconcile  those  States  to  acquiesce  in  a  revision 
of  this  article,  especially  as  a  fair  equivalent  would  result  to  them 
in  the  apportionment  of  taxes. 

The  next  amendment  relates  to  the  admission  of  new  States 
into  the  union. 

This  amendment  is  deemed  to  be  highly  important,  and  in 
fact  indispensable.  In  proposing  it,  it  is  not  intended  to  recog 
nise  the  right  of  Congress  to  admit  new  States  without  the  origi 
nal  limits  of  the  United  States,  nor  is  any  idea  entertained  of 
disturbing  the  tranquillity  of  any  Slate  already  admitted  into  the 
union.  The  object  is  merely  to  restrain  the  constitutional  power 
of  Congress  in  admitting  new  States.  At  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution,  a  certain  balance  of  power  among  the  original  par 
ties  was  considered  to  exist,  and  there  was  at  that  time,  and  yet 
is  among  those  parties,  a  strong  affinity  between  their  great  and 
general  interests. — By  the  admission  of  these  States,  that  balance 
has  been  materially  affected,  and  unless  the  practice  be  modi 
fied,  must  ultimately  be  destroyed.  The  Southern  States  will 
first  avail  themselves  of  their  new  confederates  to  govern  the 
East,  and  finally  the  Western  States  multiplied  in  number,  and 
augmented  in  population,  will  control  the  interests  of  the  whole. 
Thus  for  the  sake  of  present  power,  the  Southern  States  will  be 
common  sufferers  with  the  East,  in  the  loss  of  permanent  advan 
tages.  None  of  the  old  States  can  find  an  interest  in  creating 
prematurely  an  overwhelming  Western  influence,  which  may 
hereafter  discern  (as  it  has  heretofore)  benefits  to  be  derived  to 
them  by  wars  and  commercial  restrictions. 

The  next  amendment*  proposed  by  the  convention,  relate  to 
the  powers  of  Congress,  in  relation  to  Embargo  and  the  interdic 
tion  of  commerce 


ir 

Whatever  theories  upon  the  subject  of  commerce  have  hith 
erto  divided  the  opinions  of  statesmen,  experience  has  at  last 
shewn,  that  it  is  a  vital  interest  in  the  United  States,  and  that  its 
success  is  essential  to  the  encouragement  of  agriculture  and  man 
ufactures,  and  to  the  wealth,  finances,  defence,  and  liberty  of  the 
nation.  Its  welfare  can  never  interfere  with  the  other  great  in 
terests  of  the  State,  but  must  promote  and  uphold  them.  Still, 
those  who  are  immediately  concerned  in  the  prosecution  of  com 
merce,  will  of  necessity  be  always  a  minority  of  the  nation. 
They  are,  however,  best  qualified  to  manage  and  direct  its 
course  by  the  advantages  of  experience,  and  the  sense  of  inte 
rest.  But  they  are  entirely  unable  to  protect  themselves  against 
the  sudden  and  injudicious  decisions  of  bare  majorities,  and  the 
mistaken  or  oppressive  projects  of  those  who  are  not  actively 
concerned  in  its  pursuits.  Of  consequence,  this  interest  is  al 
ways  exposed  to  be  harassed,  interrupted,  and  entirely  destroy 
ed,  upon  pretence  of  securing  other  interests.  Had  the  mer 
chants  of  this  nation  been  permitted,  by  their  own  government, 
to  pursue  an  innocent  and  lawful  commerce,  how  different  would 
have  been  the  state  of  the  treasury  and  of  publick  credit !  How 
shortsighted  and  miserable  is  the  policy  which  has  annihilated 
this  order  of  men,  and  doomed  their  ships  to  rot  in  the  docks, 
their  capital  to  waste  unemployed,  and  their  affections  to  be 
alienated  from  the  Government  which  was  formed  to  protect 
them  !  What  security  for  an  ample  and  unfailing  revenue  can 
ever  be  had,  comparable  to  that  which  once  was  realized  in  the 
good  faith,  punctuality,  and  sense  of  honour,  which  attached  the 
mercantile  class  to  the  interests  of  the  Government  ?  Without 
commerce,  where  can  be  found  the  aliment  for  a  navy ;  and 
without  a  navy,  what  is  to  constitute  the  defence,  and  ornament, 
and  glory  of  this  nation  ?  No  union  can  be  durably  cemented,  in 
which  every  great  interest  does  not  find  itself  reasonably  secured 
against  the  encroachment  and  combinations  of  other  interests. 
When,  therefore,  the  past  system  of  embargoes  and  commercial 
restrictions  shall  have  been  reviewed — when  the  fluctuation  and 
inconsistency  of  publick  measures,  betraying  a  want  of  information 
as  well  as  Reeling  in  the  majority,  shall  have  been  considered, 
the  reasonableness  of  some  restrictions  upon  the  power  of  a  bare 
majority  to  repeat  these  oppressions,  will  appear  to  be  obvious. 

The  next  amendment  proposes  to  restrict  the  power  of  making 
offensive  war.  In  the  consideration  of  this  amendment,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  inquire  into  the  justice  of  the  present  war.  But  one 
sentiment  now  exists  in  relation  to  its  expediency,  and  regret 
for  its  declaration  is  nearly  universal.  No  indemnity  can  ever 
be  attained  for  this  terrible  calamity,  and  its  only  palliation  must 
bo  found  in  obstacles  to  its  future  recurrence.  Rarelv  can  the 
3 


state  of  this  country  call  for  or  justify  offensive  war.  The  ge 
nius  of  our  institutions  is  unfavourable  to  its  successful  prosecu 
tion  ;  the  felicity  of  our  situation  exempts  us  from  its  necessity. 
j — In  this  case,  as  in  the  former,  those  more  immediately  expo 
sed  to  its  fatal  effects  are  a  minority  of  the  nation.  The  com 
mercial  towns,  1he  shores  of  our  seas  and  rivers,  contain  the  pop 
ulation,  whose  vital  interests  are  most  vulnerable  by  a  foreign 
enemy.  Agriculture,  indeed,  must  feel  at  last,  but  this  appeal 
to  its  sensibility  comes  too  late.  Again,  the  immense  population 
which  has  swarmed  into  the  West,  remote  from  immediate  dan 
ger,  and  which  is  constantly  augmenting,  will  not  be  averse  from 
the  occasional  disturbances  of  the  Atlantick  Slates.  Thus  inte 
rest  may  not  unfrequently  combine  with  passion  and  intrigue,  to 
plunge  the  nation  into  needless  wars,  and  compel  it  to  become  a 
military,  rather  than  a  happy  and  flourishing  people.  These 
considerations,  which  it  would  be  easy  to  augment,  call  loudly  for 
the  limitation  proposed  in  the  amendment. 

Another  amendment,  subordinate  in  importance,  but  still  in  a 
high  degree  expedient,  relates  to  the  exclusion  of  foreigners, 
hereafter  arriving  in  the  United  States,  from  the  capacity  of  hold 
ing  offices  of  trust,  honour  or  profit. 

That  the  stock  of  population  already  in  these  States,  is  amply 
sufficient  to  render  this  nation  in  due  time  sufficiently  great  and 
powerful,  is  not  a  controvertible  question— Nor  will  it  be  seri 
ously  pretended,  that  the  national  deficiency  in  wisdom,  arts, 
science,  arms  or  virtue,  needs  to  be  replenished  from  foreign 
countries.  Still,  it  is  agreed,  that  a  liberal  policy  should  offer 
the  rights  of  hospitality,  and  the  choice  of  settlement,  to  those 
who  are  disposed  to  visit  the  country. — But  why  admit  to  a  par 
ticipation  in  the  government  aliens  who  were  no  parties  to  the 
compact — who  are  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  our  institutions,  and 
have  no  stake  in  the  welfare  of  the  country,  but  what  is  recent 
and  transitory?  It  is  surely  a  privilege  sufficient,  to  admit  them 
after  due  probation  to  become  citizens,  for  all  but  political  pur 
poses. — To  extend  it  beyond  these  limits,  is  to  encourage  for 
eigners  to  come  to  these  states  as  candidates  for  preferment.  The. 
Convention  forbear  to  express  their  opinion  upon  the  inauspi 
cious  effects  which  have  already  resulted  to  the  honour  and 
peace  of  this  nation,  from  this  misplaced  and  indiscriminate  lib' 
erality. 

The  last  amendment  respects  the  limitation  of  the  office  of 
President  to  a  single  constitutional  term,  and  his  eligibility  from 
the  same  State  two  terms  in  succession. 

Upon  this  topick  it  is   superfluous   to  dilate.     The   love  of 

power  is  a  principle  in  the  human  heart,  which  too  often  impels 

o  the  use  of  all  practicable  means  to  prolong  its  duration.     The 


19 

office  of  President  has  charms  and  attractions  which  operate  as 
powerful  incentives  to  this  passion.  The  first  and  most  natural 
exertion  of  a  vast  patronage  is  directed  towards  Ihe  security  of 
a  new  election.  The  interest  of  the  country,  the  welfare  of  the 
people,  even  honest  fame  and  respect  for  the  opinion  of  poster 
ity,  are  secondary  considerations.  All  the  engines  of  intrigue, 
all  the  means  of  corruption,  are  likely  to  be  employed  for  this 
object.  A  President,  whose  political  career  is  limited  to  a  single 
election,  may  find  no  other  interest  than  will  be  promoted  by 
'making  it  glorious  to  himself,  and  beneficial  to  his  country.  But 
the  hope  of  re-election  is  prolifick  of  temptations,  under  wThich 
these  magnanimous  motives  are  deprived  of  their  principal  force. 
The  repeated  election  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  from 
any  one  State,  affords  inducements  and  means  for  intrigue,  which 
tend  to  create  an  undue  local  influence,  and  to  establish  the  dom 
ination  of  particular  States.  The  justice,  therefore,  of  securing 
to  every  State  a  fair  and  equal  chance  for  the  election  of  this 
officer  from  its  own  citizens,  is  apparent,  and  this  object  will  be 
essentially  promoted  by  preventing  an  election  from  the  same 
State  twice  in  succession. 

Such  is  the  general  view  which  this  Convention  has  thought 
proper  to  submit,  of  the  situation  of  these  States,  of  their  dan 
gers  and  their  duties.  Most  of  the  subjects  which  it  embraces 
have  separately  received  an  ample  and  luminous  investigation, 
by  the  great  and  able  assertors  of  the  rights  of  their  Country,  in 
the  National  Legislature ;  and  nothing  more  could  be  attempted 
on  this  occasion,  than  a  digest  of  general  principles,  and  of  re 
commendations,  suited  to  the  present  state  of  publick  affairs. 
The  peculiar  difficulty  and  delicacy  of  performing,  even  this 
undertaking,  will  be  appreciated  by  all  who  think  seriously  upon 
the  crisis.  Negociations  for  Peace  are  at  this  hour  supposed  to 
be  pending,  the  issue  of  which  must  be  deeply  interesting  to  all. 
No  measures  should  be  adopted,  which  might  unfavourably  affect 
that  issue  ;  none  which  should  embarrass  the  Administration,  if 
their  professed  desire  for  peace  is  sincere  ;  and  none,  which  on 
supposition  of  their  insincerity,  should  afford  them  pretexts  for 
prolonging  the  war,  or  relieving  themselves  from  the  responsi 
bility  of  a  dishonourable  peace.  It  is  also  devoutly  to  be  wished, 
that  an  occasion  may  be  afforded  to  all  friends  of  the  country,  of 
all  parties,  and  in  all  places,  to  pause  and  consider  the  awful  state,  to 
which  pernicious  counsels,  and  blind  passions,  have  brought  this 
people.  The  number  of  those  who  perceive,  and  who  are  ready  to 
retrace  errours,  must,  it  is  believed,  be  yet  sufficient  to  redeem  the 
nation.  It  is  necessary  to  rally  and  unite  them  by  the  assurance, 
that  no  hostility  to  the  Constitution  is  meditated,  and  to  obtain 
their  aid,  in  placing  it  under  guardians,  who  alone  can  save  it 


20 

from  destruction.  Should  this  fortunate  change  be  effected,  the 
hope  of  happiness  and  honour  may  once  more  dispel  the  sur 
rounding  gloom.  Our  nation  may  yet  be  great,  our  union  dura 
ble.  But  should  this  prospect  be  utterly  hopeless,  the  time  will 
not  have  been  lost,  which  shall  have  ripened  a  general  sentiment 
of  the  necessity  of  more  mighty  efforts  to  rescue  from  ruin,  at 
least  some  portion  of  our  beloved  Country. 

THEREFORE  RESOLVED- 

THAT  it  be  and  hereby  is  recommended  to  the  Legisla 
tures  of  the  several  States  represented  in  this  Convention,  to 
adopt  all  such  measures  as  may  be  necessary  effectually  to  pro 
tect  the  citizens  of  said  States  from  the  operation  and  effects  of 
all  acts  which  have  been  or  may  be  passed  by  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  which  shall  contain  provisions,  subjecting 
the  militia  or  other  citizens  to  forcible  drafts,  conscriptions,  or 
impressments,  not  authorized  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

Resolved,  That  it  be  and  hereby  is  recommended  to  the  said 
Legislatures,  to  authorize  an  immediate  and  earnest  application 
to  be  made  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  requesting 
their  consent  to  some  arrangement,  whereby  the  said  States 
may,  separately  or  in  concert,  be  empowered  to  assume  upon 
themselves  the  defence  of  their  territory  against  the  enemy  ;  and 
a  reasonable  portion  of  the  t^xes,  collected  within  said  States, 
may  be  paid  into  the  respective  treasuries  thereof,  arid  appropri 
ated  to  the  payment  of  the  balance  due  said  States,  and  to  the 
future  defence  of  the  same.  The  amount  so  paid  into  the  said 
treasuries  to  be  credited,  and  the  disbursements  made  as  afore 
said  to  be  charged  to  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  it  be,  and  it  hereby  is,  recommended  to  the 
Legislatures  of  the  aforesaid  States,  to  pass  -laws  (where  it  has 
not  already  been  done)  authorizing  the  Governours  or  Com 
manders  in  Chief  of  their  militia  to  make  detachments  from  the 
same,  or  to  form  voluntary  corps,  as  shall  be  most  convenient 
and  conformable  to  their  Constitutions,  and  to  cause  the  same  to 
be  well  armed,  equipped  and  disciplined,  and  held  in  readiness 
for  service  ;  and  upon  the  request  of  the  Governour  of  eiiher  of 
the  other  States,  to  employ  the  whole  of  such  detachment  or 
corps,  as  well  as  the  regular  forces  of  the  State,  or  such  part 
thereof  as  may  be  required  and  can  be  spared  consistently  with 
the  safety  of  the  State,  in  assisting  the  State,  making  such  re 
quest  to  repel  any  invasion  thereof  which  shall  be  made  or  atr 
tempted  by  the  publick  enemy. 


21 

Resolved,  That  the  following  amendment*  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  be  recommended  to  the  States  represent 
ed  as  aforesaid,  to  be  proposed  by  them  for  adoption  by  the 
State  Legislatures,  and,  in  such  cases  as  may  be  deemed  expe 
dient,  by  a  Convention  chosen  by  the  people  of  each  Slate. 

And  it  is  further  recommended,  that  the  said  States  shall 
persevere  in  their  efforts  to  obtain  such  amendments,  until  the 
same  shall  be  effected. 

First.  Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportion 
ed  among  the  several  States  which  may  be  included  within  this 
union,  according  to  their  respective  numbers  of  free  persons,  in 
cluding  those  bound  to  serve  for  a  term  of  years,  and  excluding 
Indians  not  taxed,  and  all  other  persons. 

Second.  No  new  State  shall  be  admitted  into  the  union  by 
Congress  in  virtue  of  the  power  granted  by  the  Constitution, 
•without  the  concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  both  Houses. 

Third.  Congress  shall  not  have  power  to  lay  any  embargo  on 
the  ships  or  vessels  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  in  the 
ports  or  harbours  thereof,  for  more  than  sixty  days. 

Fourth.  Congress  shall  not  have  power,  without  the  concur 
rence  of  two  thirds  of  both  Houses,  to  interdict  the  commercial 
intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  any  foreign  nation  or 
the  dependencies  thereof. 

Fifth.  Congress  shall  not  make  or  declare  war,  or  authorize 
acts  of  hostility  against  any  foreign  nation,  without  the  concur 
rence  of  two  thirds  of  both  Houses,  except  such  acts  of  hostility- 
be  in  defence  of  the  territories  of  the  United  States  when  actu 
ally  invaded. 

Sixth.  No  person  who  shall  hereafter  be  naturalized,  shall 
be  eligible  as  a  member  of  the  Senate  or  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  the  United  States,  nor  capable  of  holding  any  civil  office 
under  the  authority  of  the  United  States. 

Seventh.  The  same  person  shall  not  be  elected  President  of 
the  United  States  a  second  time  ;  nor  shall  the  President  be 
elected  from  the  same  State  two  terms  in  succession. 

Resolved,  That  if  the  application  of  these  States  to  the  go 
vernment  of  the  United  States,  recommended  in  aforegoing  Re 
solution,  should  be  unsuccessful,  and  peace  should  not  be  con 
cluded,  and  the  defence  of  these  States  should  be  neglected,  as 
it  has  been  since  the  commencement  of  the  war,  it  will  in  the 
opinion  of  this  Convention  be  expedient  for  the  Legislatures  of 
the  several  States  to  appoint  Delegates  to  another  Convention, 
to  meet  at  Boston,  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  on  the  third 
Thursday  of  June  next,  with  such  powers  and  instructions  as 
flie  exigency  of  a  crisis  so  momentous  may  require. 


Resolved,  That  the  Hon.  George  Cabot,  the  Hon.  Chauncey 
Goodrich,  and  the  Hon.  Daniel  Lyman,  or  any  two  of  them,  be 
authorized  to  call  another  meeting  of  this  Convention,  to  be  hoi- 
den  in  Boston,  at  any  time  before  new  Delegates  shall  be  chosen, 
as  recommended  in  the  above  Resolution,  if  in  their  judgment 
the  situation  of  the  Country  shall  urgently  require  it. 


HARTFORD,  January  4th,  1815. 

GEORGE  CABOT, 
NATHAN  DANK, 
WILLIAM  PRESCOTT, 
HARRISON  G.  OTIS, 
TIMOTHY  BIGELOW, 
JOSHUA  THOMAS, 
SAMUEL  S.  WILDE, 
JOSEPH  LYMAN, 
STEPHEN  LONGFELLOW,  JR. 
DANIEL  WALDO, 
HODIJAH  BAYLIES, 
GEORGE  BUSS, 
CHAUNCEY  GOODRICH, 


JAMES  HILLHOUSE, 
JOHN  TREADWELL, 
ZEPHANIAH  SWIFT, 
NATHANIEL  SMITH, 
CALVIN  GODDARD, 
ROGER  M.  SHERMAN. 
DANIEL  LYMAN, 
SAMUEL  WARD, 

EDWARD  MANTON, 
BENJAMIN  HAZARD, 
BENJAMIN  WEST, 
MILLS  OLCOTT, 
WILLIAM  HALL,  JR. 


STATEMENTS, 


PREPARED    AND   PUBLISHED    BY    ORDER    OF    THE    CONVENTION    OF    DELEGATES, 
HELD    AT    HARTFORD,    DECEA1BER    15,    181  -1, 

AND    PR1NTKD    MY    THEIR   ORDER 


SCHEDULE  (A,) 

Shewing  the  ascertained  expenses  of  the  war,  prior  to  July  1,  1814. 

Military  Department,  or  land  forces,  from  January  1,  to  Sept.  30, 

1812,  including   about  six  months   of  peace,   and   three   months  of 

war,  in  that  year,  $7,464,814  80 

From   Sept.  30,  1812,  to  Sept.    30,  1813,  18,484,750  49 

From  Sept.  30,  1813,  to  Dec.  31,  1813,  5,887,747  00 

From  Jan.  1,  to  July  1,  1814,  -         11,210,238  00 

Ascertained  expenses  of  the  Land  forces  from  >  <»,«  n  <7  c<-n  <m 

Jan.    1,    1812,  to   July  1,  1814,  \* 
Navy  Department,   from  Jan.  1,  to   Sept.  30,   1812, 
about   six  months   of    peace,    and    three   months  of 
war,  the  sum  of  $2,638,612  95 

From    Sept.  30,  1812,  to    Sept.  >      6    „        ?  „ 
30,    1813,  $      0,4^0,70 

From  Sept.    30,  to   Dec.   31,  1813,     1,248,145  10 
From   Jan.   1,  to   July  1,  1814,  4,012,899  90 

14,320,365   15 


Ascertained   war  expenses  to  July  1,  1814,  $57,367,915  44 

to  which  must  be  added,  large  sums  not  ascertained, 
and,  also  disbursements  made  by  individual  States, 
•these  must  he  more  than  -  -  3,000,000  00 


$60,367,915  44 

Note. — The  Military  and  Naval  expenses  of  the  United  States  from 
January  1,  1812,  to  June  18,  1812,  when  war  was  declared,  are  in 
cluded  in  the  above  Account,  and  were,  partly  on  account  of  the  peace 
establishment,  and,  in  part,  preparations  for  war.  So  that  this  enor- 
rnous  expenditure  was  incurred  in  the  Military  and  Naval  depart 
ments  alone,  in  two  years  of  small  w:«.rfi«-r*».  aw'  in  six:  months  th.-a 

receded  it-. 


SCHEDULE  (B,) 

Shewing  the  receipts  at  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  from 
January!,  1812,  to  July  1,  1814,  including  about  6  months  of  peace, 
and  about  two  years  of  war,  to  wit — 

From  Jan.  1,  to  Oct.  1,  1812,  from  the  proceedsof 
the  customs,  the  sales  of  land,  &c.  being  three  fourths 
of  the  revenue  year,  $8,201,210  18 

The  balance  in  the  Treasury  charged  this   account,     3,947,818  36 

On  the  11  million  loan  under  the  act  of  March 
H  1812,  5,847,212  50 


$17,906,241  04 

Receipts  from  Oct.  1,  1812,  to  Oct.  1, 1813,  to  wit— 
From  the  proceeds  of  the  customs,  $12,596,491   55 
Sales  of  land,  -         830,671   53 

Other  items  of  revenue,  140,879  35 

13,568,042  43 

On  account  of  the  11  million  loan,  $4,337,487  50 
On   the    16   million  loan,  act  Feb. 
8,  1813,        -  -     14,488,125  00 

Treasury  Notes  issued  on  the  act  of 
June   30,    1812,  4,898,300  00 

Do.  do.  act  Feb. 

25,    1813,  -       253,000  00 

23,976,912  50 

Receipts  from  Oct.  1,  1813,  to  Jan. 
1,   1814,  to  wit— 

From     the     customs    and     sales    of 
lands,  &c.  $3,678,565  00 

On  the  16  million  loan,  -       1,511,87500 

On  the  seven  and  half  million  loan,  3,907,335  00 
Treasury  notes,  3,778,700  00 

12,876,475  00 

Receipts   from    Jan.    1,    to  July   1, 
1814,  to  wit — 

From  the   proceeds   of  the  customs,        4,182,088  25 
Sales  of  publick  lands,  540,065  68 

Internal   duties  and  direct  tax,  2,189,272  40 

Postage  and  incidental  receipts,  166,744  00 

$7,078,170  33 

On  the  7  1-2  million  loan, 
act  Aug.  2,  1813,  -  $3,592,665 

On  10  million  loan  (part 
of  the  25  millions)  6,087,011 


Carried  forward.  $0.f>79.076  $7.078,170  33  $68,417,670  97 


25 

Brought  up,  9,679,676  $7,078,170  33  $68,417,670  97 

Treasury  notes 
on  act  Feb.  25, 
1813,  $1,070,000 

Do.         on   act 
March  24,   1814,    1,302,100 

-2,462,100-12,141,776   00-19,219,946   33 


87,637,617  30 
Deduct  cash  in  the  treasury,  July  1,   1814,  4,722,059  32 

Deduct  payments  made  at  the  trea-  $82,914,957  98 

sury   in   the  s.ime  period  from  Jan.  1, 
1812,  to  July  1,  1814,  to  wit— 

The  civil  list,  Indian  department,  &c.  $4,697,872  32 

Interest  and   principal  of  the  publick 
debt,  21,101,417  72-25,799,290,04 

Left  for  war  purposes  in  this  period,  $57,1 15,667,94 

Note. — Thus  while  the  war  cost  above  60   millions  of  dollars,  and 

the  land  forces  46  millions  of  the  sum,  there  was  but  a  small   British 

army  employed  against  the  United  States,  and  in  this  period,  disgrace 

generally  attended  the  American  arms  by  land. 

SCHEDULE  (C,) 

Shewing  the  great  increase  of  the  revenues  of  the  United  States, 
from  the  adoption  of  (he  Constitution  to  the  adoption  of  the  restric 
tive  system  ;  and  while  commerce  continued  free,  and  the  great 
diminution  of  these  revenues  since  that  system  was  resorted  to — 
they  were  us  follow,  as  by  Treasury  statements. 


Prior  to 

1792, 

$4,418,913 

1803, 

11,064,067 

In 

1792, 

3,661,932 

1804, 

11,828,307 

1703, 

4,714,423 

1805, 

13,560,663 

1794, 

5,128,432 

1806, 

15,559,931 

1795, 

5,954,534 

1807, 

16,398,019 

1796, 

7,137,529 

1808, 

17,060,661 

1797, 

8,403,560 

1809, 

7,773,473 

1798, 

7,820,575 

1810, 

9,384,214 

1799, 

7,475,773 

1811, 

14,423,529 

1800, 

10,777,709 

9  months  of  1812, 

6,927,706 

1  801 

12  R/tfi  "i^O 

1  OV/  1  } 

1802, 

1  .^jO^IU^c/OV/ 

13,668,223 

$215,988,703 

Note — As  bonds  were  given  for  the  duties,  and  they  usually  become 
payable  the  next  year — the  duties  payable  in  any  year,  were,  gene 
rally,  collected  on  the  importations  of  the  preceding  year,  as  the 
$17,060,661  received  in  1808  were  the  duties  on  the  great  importa 
tions  of  1807,  a  few  small  sums  escepted. 

Note,  (dso — All  these  revenues  arose  from  commerce,  except 
$16,262,651. 

It  will  he  observed  that  all  the  sources  of  revenue  exclusive  of  im 
post  and  tonnage  duties,  did  not,  on  an  average,  amount  to  quite  one 
million  of  dollars  a  year ;  so  that  the  impost  and  tonnage  duties,  the 
4 


26 

four  years  preceding  the  long  embargo,  amounted  to  about  fifty-eight 
millions  of  dollars,  or  to  $14,500,000  a  year.  And  if  there  had  been  no 
embargoes  or  restrictions  on  commerce  these  would  have  increased,  at 
least  not  decreased  till  the  war  was  commenced.  That  commenced 
four  years  and  a  half  after  the  embargo  was  laid.  It  will  be  seen  that 
all  the  revenues  amounted,  in  four  years,  before  the  embargo,  to 
$62,579,274,  and  deducting  for  other  sources  of  revenue,  one  million  a 
year,  there  will  remain  $58,579,274  received  from  imposts  and 
tonnage  duties:  whereas  in  the  three  years  and  nine  months  after  the 
embargo  was  laid,  all  the  revenues,  as  above,  amounted  only  to 
$38,508,922,  or  at  the  rate  of  $40,817,990  in  four  years  ;  but  in  these 
four  years  were  included,  not  only  the  ordinary  million  a  year,  but  the 
two  million  direct  tax  of  1798,  and  the  new  internal  duties  of  those 
four  years,  whence  was  collected  at  least  two  millions  and  a  half; 
hence  deduct  $6,500,000  from  $40,817,990  leaves,  received  from  im 
post  and  tonnage  duties  $34,317,990,— $24,261,284  less  than  was 
received  in  the  four  years  preceding  the  embargo;  that  is,  above  six 
millions  a  year,  or  above  twenty-seven  millions  for  the  four  years  and  a 
half,  the  restrictive  system  existed  before  the  war;  hence  this  sum  was 
clearly  lost  by  this  system — See  Schedule  F. 

Note,  also — The  said  $16,262,651  was  received  thus, — from  in 
ternal  revenue,  $6,460,003;  direct  tax,  $1,757,240;  sales  of  land, 
$6,161,283  02;  postage  of  letters,  &c.  $667,343;  miscellaneous, 
$1,216,775. 

Therefore,  it  is  clear,  that  if  there  had  been  no  restrictive  system  or 
war,  the  old  debt  of  the  United  States,  would  have  been,  before  this 
time,  paid,  or  nearly  paid. 


SCHEDULE  (D,) 

Shewing  the  state  of  the  army  of  the  United  States  previous  to 
July  1,  1814.  It  was  thus — effectives  27,010;  aggregate  31,539;  sta 
tioned  as  follows : 

In  the  first  Military  District,  at  Boston,  Portsmouth,  Portland  and 
Eastport,  aggregate  number 

2  Military  District  at  New-London,  &c. 

3  do.  at  New-York, 

4  do.  at  Fort  Miflflin,  &c. 

5  do.  at  Baltimore,  Norfolk, 

6  do.  North  and  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 

7  do.  at  New-Orleans,  Mobile,  &c. 

Stationed  on  the  sea  board,  10,659 

8  Military  District  at  Detroit,  Sandwich,  &c.  2,472 

9  do.  division  of  the  right,  11,795 

at  Buffaloe,  Sacket's  harbour,  &c.         6,613 

18,408 

on  the  Canada  line,  20,880 

total— 31,539 


27 

Recruits  enlisted  from  January  27,  1814,  to  September  30,  1814,  as 
by  the  return  of  the  Inspector  General  were  13,898: 
to  wit— in  February  1814,  980 

March          „ 

April  „ 

May 

June  „ 

July 

August         „ 

Sept 


Note — An  army  of  31,539,  early  in  the  year  1814,  was,  no  doubt,  a 
much  larger  army  than  the  United  States  kept  up  the  two  first  years 
of  the  war;  and  if  properly  employed,  31,000  regular  troops  were  cer 
tainly  adequate  to  oppose  any  force  Great  Britain,  in  those  years, 
employed  against  the  United  States — 31,000  men,  according  to  the 
estimates  of  the  War  and  Treasury  Departments,  should  not  have  cost 
more  than  12  millions  a  year,  or  24  millions  in  the  two  years;  whereas 
the  land  forces  did  cost  46  millions  and  more,  in  the  wasteful  manner 
in  which  the  war  was  conducted. 

Note,  also — When  it  is  considered  the  United  States  had  on  the  1st 
of  July,  1814,  a  regular  army  of  31,539,  and  enlisted  in  8  months, 
from  February  1,  to  October  1,  1814,  13,898  men,  for  what  possible 
p  -etence  can  the  national  government  have  recourse  to  conscription, 
and  measures  destructive  of  the  liberties  of  the  people,  to  fill  the  ranks 
of  the  army  ?  The  course  of  enlistments  amply  proves,  that  if  the  army 
be  well  paid  and  supported,  and  according  to  contracts,  there  can  be 
no  occasion  to  resort  to  such  violent  measures. 

Note,  also — Of  the  10,659  regular  troops  on  the  sea  board,  only 
1,369  were  stationed  in  New-England. 


SCHEDULE  (E.) 

Though  the  operations  of  the  war  in  1 781  and  1 782  were  great,  espe 
cially  in  the  Southern  States,  yet  it  cost  America  far  less  than  fifteen 
millions  a  year,  as  will  appear  t>y  the  publick  documents.  In  1782  Con 
gress  made  an  estimate  for  an  army  of  25,000  men.  This  estimate, 
which  proved  to  be  correct,  was  a  little  over  eight  millions  of  dollars. 
The  individual  States'  expenses  will  be  found  not  to  have  exceeded  four 
millions  a  year,  and  Navy  expenses  were  trifling.  In  1 781  the  expenses 
were  about  three  millions  more  than  in  1782. — Prices  were  about  the 
same  then  as  now. 

The  following  is  an  abstract  of  the  expenditures  of  the  United  States 
from  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  to  Oct.  1, 1812,  taken  from  Trea 
sury  Reports : 


Prior  to 
In 


1792, 

1792, 
1793, 
1794, 
1795, 
1796, 
1797, 
1798, 
1799, 
1800, 
1801, 
1802, 


$1,718,129 

1803, 

1,766,677 

1804, 

1,707,848 

1805, 

3,500,348 

1806, 

4,350,596 

1807, 

2,531,930 

1808, 

2,833,590 

1809, 

4,623,223 

1810, 

6,480,1  66 

1811, 

7,411,369 

9  months  of  181  2, 

4,981,669 

3,737,079 

4,062,824 
4,052,858 
6,357,234 
6,080,209 
4,984,572 
6,504,338 
7,414,672 
5,311,082 
5,592,604 
11,760,292 

$  107,763,309 


Arote....These  expenditures. do  not  include  the  interest  and  principal 
of  the  publick  debt. 

Never  after  the  peace  of  1783,  till  1812,  did  the  expenditures  of  the 
United  States  amount  to  seven  millions  and  a  half  in  any  year. 

In  1781  Cornwallis  was  taken,  and  it  is  ascertained  that  over  26,000 
British  troops  were  sent  into  the  four  Southern  States  in  less  than  two 
years  in  1780  and  1781.  The  United  States  were  obliged  to  keep  up 
large  forces  in  the  Middle  and  Northern  States ;  and  the  militia  drafts 
•were  often  made  in  those  two  years. — During  the  long  period  from 
March  4,  1789,  to  Oct.  1,  1812,  the  whole  Military  expenditures  of  the 
United  States  were  hut  $44,066,745  65  including  Indian  wars,  war  with 
France,  and  with  the  Barbary  powers,  the  Pennsylvania  insurrection, 
and  several  millions  expended  in  the  present  war  before  October,  1812. 
Much  IPSS  than  two  millions  of  dollars  a  year.  And  the  Navy  expen 
ditures  during  the  same  long  period  were  but  $29,889,660  78.  About 
one  million  and  a  quarter  a  year. 

Further,  An  examination  of  the  publick  documents  will  shew, that  the 
eight-years-war  of  the  revolution  did  not  cost  more  than  205,000,000 
of  specif  dollars.  More  than  half  that  sum  was  expended  in  the  three 
first  years,  when  paper  money  was  abundant,  and  the  American  and 
British  armies  most  numerous ;  a  period  in  which  we  withstood  the 
forces  of  the  enemy  alone,  in  a  manner  so  honourable  to  our  arms. 

SCHEDULE  (F.) 

This  Schedule  brings  into  one  view  the  great  loss  of  revenue  occa 
sioned  by  the  Restrictive  System,  and  the  enormous  waste  of  publick 
monies  in  the  two  first  years  of  this  war;  the  particulars  whereof  are 
stated  in  the  preceding  Schedules. 

1.  27  millions  of  dollars,  at  least,  were  lost  by  reason  of 
restrictions  on  commerce,  for  four  years  and  a  half  before 

the  war  was  declared  or  commenced,  as  in  scheduleC,     $27,000,000 

2.  War  expenses,  as  stated  in  schedule  A,  to  the  amount 
of  $60,367,915,  at  least,  were  incurred  in  this  war  before 
July  1,  1814;  whereas,  on  any  scale  of  expenses  of  any 
wars,  ever  carried  on  in  this  country  heretofore,  the  war 
expenses  from  January  1812,  to  July  1,  1814,  ought  not  to 
have  exceeded  27  millions,  if  indeed  they  could  equal  that 
sum.     There  then  was  clearly  a  wasteful  and  improvident 


29 


Amount  brought  forward,  27,000,000 

expenditure  of  publick  monies,  in  the  war  and  navy  depart 
ments,  in  this  short  period,  of  more  than  33  millions  of  dol 
lars,  ........  *  -  33,000,000 


Revenue  and  public  monies  lost  by  foolish  restrictions,- 


and  in  a  profligate  management  of  the  war,  $60,000,000 

Schedule  E,  also,  shews  how  moderate  our  military  expenses  were 
prior  to  the  present  war. 


this  large  sum  been  saved,  as  it  might  have  been,  with 
perfect  ease  by  a  wise  and  economical  administration,  the  credit  of  the 
United  States,  at  this  moitient,  would  have  been  unimpaired,  and  the 
very  heavy  direct  and  internal  taxes  now  laid  on  the  people  to  supply 
the  place  of  this  sum,  so  lost  and  wasted,  might  have  been  avoided. 

In  fact,  examine  the  expenditures  of  all  former  wars  in  this  country, 
the  force  brought  against  it  in  the  two  first  years  of  this  war,  and  every 
cause  of  necessary  expenditure,  and  it  will  appear,  that  not  so  much  as 
27  millions  ought  to  have  been  expended  in  the  military  and  naval  de 
partments  in  the  period  in  question. 


SCHEDULE  (G,) 

Shewing  the  amounts  of  the  several  Internal  Duties,  distinctly,  that 
have  accrued  for  the  two  first  quarters  of  the  year  1814.  Ascer 
tained  to  have  been  received  in  each  State  and  Territory  of  the 
United  States,  viz. 


IS  .nit:.-    oi 
States  and 
Territories. 

Licenses  for 
Stills  and 
Boilers. 

Carnages. 

Licenses 
for 

Retailers. 

Duties    on 
Sales  at 
Auction. 

Refined 
Sugar. 

Stamps. 

New-Hamp 

4817  S*: 

U155  08 

15154 

351  29 

544  05 

Massachusetts. 

61217  86 

33160  78 

79220 

12285  05 

120  on 

14281   18 

Vermont, 

19710  52 

2532  18 

12271 

7  96 

13  35 

Rhode-  Island, 

16265  23 

2842  88 

15702 

6039  23 

5329  80 

Connecticut, 

42878  36 

13092  61 

28556 

79  48  1-2 

7388  37 

New-York, 

154484  67 

21687  23 

156492 

8872  69  1-2 

51935  06 

New-Jersey, 

18429  5r 

16253  92 

27163 

2823  86 

3350  49 

Pennsylvania, 

271780 

25707  08  1-2 

113852 

10871  61 

455«0  45 

Delaware, 

1447  50 

5118  18 

7477 

116  25 

2701  56 

Maryland, 

36736  37 

16965  97  1-2 

42300 

5344  111-4 

20300  823-4 

Virginia, 

148442  91 

28836  91 

46691 

2018  20 

21378  031-2 

North-Caro. 

44780  20 

13594  293-4 

20644 

444  141-4 

5212  413-4 

Georgia, 

11076  68 

6532  12  1-4 

11931 

1003  17 

2145  76 

Sotith-Caro. 

32215  67 

15024  72 

20343 

923  52 

10,.  10  16 

Ohio, 

84708  5P 

456  24 

15200 

3246  87  1-2 

Kentucky, 

56082  IP 

2634  69  1-2 

13684 

160  08  1-2 

4185  38 

Tennessee, 

46855  97 

661   11 

7612 

946  05 

Louisiana, 

5485  08 

840  81 

7079 

1878  30 

26  25 

7119  86 

Illinois  Ter. 

490  44 

62 

835 

5  60 

Michigan     „ 

54 

1135 

28  93 

21  24 

Indiana        „ 

1263  73 

4 

1396 

Missouri       „ 

2027  38 

75 

1340 

45  45 

Missisippi    „ 

1562  07 

303 

3305 

91  82 

652  76 

Dis.  ofColum. 

2044  91 

9505 

154  32 

10159  56 

1062758  9!> 

^14639  73  1-2 

663887 

53494  03 

146  34 

217304  28  1-2 

GROSS    TOTAL — $2,212,290   38. 


SCHEDULE  (H.) 


This  shews  the  great  increase  of  the  commerce  of  the  United  States, 
under  federal  administrations  when  it  was  free.  Also  its  great  diminu 
tion  under  embargoes,  restrictions  and  war.  2.  The  comparative  ex 
ports  of  the  several  States  from  time  to  time.  3.  The  kind  of  exports, 
as  articles  domestick  or  foreign,  as  productions  of  the  forest,  of  agricul 
ture,  of  the  sea,  &c. 

1.  The  exports  of  the  United  States  every  fifth  year,  to  wit— 


1791 

1796 
1801 
1806 
1811 


$17,571,551  45 
67,064.097  00 
93,020,513  00 

103,787,000  00 
61,317,833  00 


Exports  of  the  United  States  four 
years  next  preceding  the  long 
embargo,  viz. 

1804  $77,701,597 

1805  95,566,021 
1806,  as  above,       103,787,000 
1807                          108,343,558 


$385,398,176 


iVofc....Thus  the  exports,  when 
commerce  was  free,  increased  near 
ly  6  fold  in  15  years,  and  under 
restrictions  diminished  about  one 
half  as  stated  below. 

Exports  of  the  United  States  four 
years  under  restrictions,  and 
one  year  in  war,  viz. 

1808  Domestick  Arts  $8,417,000 
Foreign       do.      12,997,414 

1809  Domestick  do.      28,841,000 
Foreign  do.  20,797,531 

1810  Domes.  &  For.    67,895,597 

1811  do.         do.      61,317,833 
1813  Domestick  Arts  25,008,152 

Foreign        do.       2,847,845 


$228,122,372 
The  comparative  exports  of  each  State,  from  time  to  time,  viz. 


year  1791        year  1799 

year  1806 

year  1813 

New-Hampshire, 

$      142,858    $     360,089 

$     795,260  Dom.  Arts.  $       29,996 

Massachusetts, 

2,445,975        11,421,591 

21,199,243 

do. 

1,807,923 

Vermont, 

20,480 

193,775 

do. 

Rhode-Island, 

470,131         1,055,273 

2,091,835 

do. 

236,802 

Connecticut, 

710,340        1,143,818 

1,715,858 

do. 

974,303 

New-York, 

2,5  IB,  197       18,719,527 

21,762,845 

do. 

8,185,494 

New-Jersey, 

27,957                9,722 

33,867 

do. 

10,260 

Pennsylvania, 

2,931,624        12,431,967 

17,574,502 

do. 

3,577,117 

Delaware, 

119,840            297,065 

500,106 

do. 

133,432 

Maryland, 

2,193,355        16,299,609 

14,580,905 

do. 

3,787,865 

Virginia, 

3,131,227         6,292,986 

5,055,396 

do. 

1,819,722 

North-Carolina, 

524,548            485,921 

789,605 

do. 

797,318 

South-Carolina, 

1,866,021         8,729,015 

9,743,782 

do. 

2,968,484 

Ceorgia, 

491,472          1,396,768 

no  return. 

do. 

1,004,595 

Ohio, 

62,318 

do. 

Territories  of  the  U. 

S.    4,100,583 

do. 

Georgetown, 
Alexandria, 

254.353? 
991,793  S 

do. 

1,387,498 

Michigan, 

221,260 

do. 

New-Orleans, 

3,887,323 

do. 

1,045,153 

31 

3.  The  kind  of  exports  from  the  United   States,   as  articles  do- 
mestick  or  foreign;  productions  of  the  forest,  agriculture,  of  the  sea,  &c. 


Prod,  of  the  forest, 
of  the  sea, 
of  agriculture, 
of  manufact. 
Miscellaneous, 

Foreign  articles, 

Year  1804 
4,600,000 
3,420,000 
30,890,000 
2,100,000 
430,000 

Year  1805 
5,201,000 
2,884,000 
31,552,000 
2,525,000 
155,000 

Year  1806 
4,801,000 
3,116,000 
32,375,000 
2,707,000 
445,000 

Year  1807 
5,476,000 
2,804,009 
37,832,000 
2,120,000 
468,000 

41,440,000 
36,231,597 

42,377,000 
53,179,021 

43,504,000 
60,283,000 

48,700,000 
59,643,578 

77,071,597 

95,556,021  1  103,787,0001108,343,578 

This  statement  shews,  that  about  three  fourths  of  the  domestick  exports 
of  the  United  States  are  the  produce  of  agriculture,  and  fer  four  years 
prior  to  the  embargo,  exceeded  on  an  average  33  millions  a  year.  It 
will  readily  be  seen  what  great  losses  there  must  have  been  in  regard 
to  these  articles,  when  the  regular  exportation  of  them  has  been  capri 
ciously  interrupted  for  7  years  past,  by  embargoes,  restrictions  and 
war,  the  same  as  to  the  produce  of  the  forest,  and,  that  of  the  sea ;  the 
latter  amounting,  on  an  average,  for  four  years  next  before  the  em 
bargo,  to  above  3  millions  of  dollars  a  year,  has  been  by  restrictions 
and  war,  wholly  destroyed — And  the  shipping  employed  formerly,  in 
acquiring  these  productions  of  the  sea,  is  nearly  rotten  at  the  wharves, 
and  the  seamen  engagetl  in  this  branch  of  business,  very  important,  in 
a  publick  view,  are  scattered  and  gone. 

The  domestick  articles  in  the  four  years  next  before  the  restrictive 
system,  were  50  millions  more  than  the  same  articles  exported  in  the 
four  years  under  it,  and  before  the  war. 


NOTE.— Page  8. 

Extract  from  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  dated  November 

15,  1814. 

There  is  another  branch  of  the  service  which  appears  to  me  to  merit 
the  serious  deliberation  of  the  legislature,  with  regard  to  the  establishment 
of  some  regular  system,  by  which  the  voluntary  enlistments  for  the  navy 
may  derive  occasional  reinforcement  from  the  services  of  those  seamen, 
who,  pursuing  theirown  private  occupations,  are  exempt,  by  their  itine 
rant  habits,  from  publick  service  of  any  kind.  In  my  view  there  would 
be  nothing  incompatible  with  the  free  spirit  of  our  institutions,  or  with 
the  rights  of  individuals,  if  registers,  with  a  particular  descriptive  re 
cord,  were  kept  in  the  several  districts,  of  all  the  seamen  belonging  to 
the  United  States,  and  provision  made  by  law  for  classing  and  calling 
into  the  publick  service,  in  succession,  for  reasonable  stated  periods,' 
such  portions  or  classes,  as  the  publick  service  might  require,  and  if  any 


individual,  so  called,  should  be  absent  at  the  time,  the  next  in  sue 
cession  should  perform  the  tour  of  duty  of  the  absentee,  who  should, 
on  his  return,  be  liable  to  serve  his  original  tour,  and  his  substitute  be 
exempt  from  his  succeeding  regular  tour  of  duty. 


NOTE. 

It  appears  from  the  following  extract  from  a  speech  of  Mr.  Madison, 
in  the  Debates  of  the  Virginia  Convention,  that  he  had  a  prophetick 
view  of  circumstances  which  would  induce  a  majority  of  States  to  SUP 
PORT  VIRGINIA  against  the  carrying  States.  See  also  the  speeches  of 
Mr.  Nicholas  in  that  Convention,  and  the  essays  in  the  Federalist, 
•written  by  Mr.  Madison. 

Extract  from  debates  in  Virginia  Convention, — Richmond  Ed.  p.  224. 

I  will  not  sit  down  till  I  make  one  more  observation  on  what  fell 
from  my  honourable  friend.  He  says,  that  the  true  difference  between 
the  statec  lies  in  this  circumstance — that  some  are  carrying  states,  and 
others  productive,  and  that  the  operation  of  the  new  government  will 
be,  that  there  will  be  a  plurality  of  the  former  to  combine  against  the 
interest  of  the  latter,  and  that  consequently  it  will  be  dangerous  to  put 
it  in  their  power  to  do  so.  I  would  join  with  him  in  sentiment,  if 
this  were  the  case.  Were  this  within  the  bounds  of  probability,  I 
should  be  equally  alarmed,  but  I  think  that  those  States  which  are 
contradistinguished  as  carrying  states,  from  the  non-importing  states, 
will  be  but  few.  I  suppose  the  southern  states  will  be  considered  by 
all,  as  under  the  latter  description.  Some  other  states  have  been 
mentioned  by  an  honourable  member  on  the  same  side,  which  are  not 
considered  as  carrying  states.  New-Jersey  and  Connecticut  can  by 
no  means  be  enumerated  among  the  carrying  states.  They  receive 
their  supplies  through  New-York.  Here  then  is  a  plurality  of  non- 
importing  states.  I  could  add  another  if  necessary.  Delaware,  though 
situated  upon  the  water,  is  upon  the  list  of  non-carrying  states.  I 
might  s.-iy  that  a  great  part  of  New-Hampshire  is  so.  I  believe  a  ma 
jority  of  the  people  of  that  State  receive  their  supplies  from  Massachu 
setts,  Rhode-Island,  and  Connecticut. — Might  I  not  add  all  those  states 
•which  will  be  admitted  hereafter  into  the  union  ?  These  will  he  non- 
carry  ins;  states,  and  will  support  Virginia  in  case  the  carrying  states 
n  ill  attempt  to  combine  against  the  rest. 


DOCUMENTS. 


Report  of  Commissioners  to  his  Excellency  the  Governor. 

THE  Undersigned,  appointed  by  his  Excellency 
the  Governor,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Council, 
Commissioners,  to  proceed  to  the  seat  of  the  National  Govern* 
ment,  for  the  purposes  expressed  in  a  Kesolve  of  the  Legisla 
ture  of  the  27th  day  of  January  now  last  past,  beg  leave  res 
pectfully  to  report, 

That  in  virtue  of  the  said  Resolve,  and  of  the  instructions, 
given  under  it  by  his  Excellency,  they  proceeded  to  the  seat 
of  the  National  Government,  in  the  most  expeditious  manner 
for  the  purpose  of  attempting  to  accomplish  the  objects  of  their 
mission.  On  the  day  of  their  arrival  at  Washington,  a  report 
of  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  of  peace  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  was  extensively  propagated  and  credited, 
and  on  the  next  day  the  news  assumed  a  shape  of  probability, 
which  in  the  opinion  of  the  undersigned,  and  of  the  senators 
and  delegates  from  this  Commonwealth  in  Congress,  with  whom 
they  were  instructed  to  consult,  rendered  it  proper  to  suspend 
any  application  to  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and 
wait  for  a  confirmation  of  this  welcome  intelligence.  The  cer 
tainty  of  this  event  being  soon  placed  beyond  all  possible  doubt, 
by  the  actual  arrival  of  a  messenger  with  the  treaty  at  Washing 
ton,  justified  a  still  further  delay;  and  the  final  ratification  of 
the  treaty  by  government,  having  most  happily  superseded  the 
necessity  of  any  such  arrangements,  tor  the  defence  of  this  Com 
monwealth,  as  were  proposed  in  the  said  resolve,  it  was  judged 
proper  by  tlievUndersigned,  to  abstain  altogether  from  reques 
ting  an  audience  in  their  public  capacity,  or  exhibiting  their 
credentials  to  any  persons. 

The  undersigned  conceiving  that  an  effort  (o  oftain  a  repay 
ment  of  monies  advanced  by  the  Commonwealth  for  the  nation 
al  defence,  was  within  the  scope  of  their  Commission  and  in 
structions,  had  intended  to  have  brought  that  subject  into  full 
view  in  a  conference  with  the  Heads  of  the  proper  Departments  ; 
But  at  this  moment,  a  bill,  whose  provisions  fully  embraced 
this  object,  had  passed  the  Senate,  unanimously,  or  nearly  so, 
and  it  was  believed  that  fl»<»  view?  of  this  Commonwealth  would 
3 


34 

be  more  effectually  promoted  by  endeavors  to  facilitate  the  pas 
sing  of  that  bill  through  the  House,  than  by  soliciting  the  exe 
cutive  Government,  which  might  justly  have  hesitated  to  act 
upon  a  subject,  which  Congress  thus  appeared  to  consider  as 
belonging  to  their  province.  The  undersigned  therefore  re 
mained  at  the  seat  of  government  no  longer  than  was  necessary 
to  communicate  to  their  friends  in  Congress  such  information 
as  they  possessed  in  relation  to  the  claims  or  the  Commonwealth, 
conceiving  that  this  concern  could  not  possibly  be  left  in  better 
hands  than  their  Members  ot  Congress,  from  whom  they  exper 
ienced  the  most  cordial  and  zealous  assistance.  The  bill  how 
ever  did  not  pass  the  House  of  Representatives. 


All  which  is  submitted. 


H.  G.  OTIS, 
T.  H.  PERKINS, 
AY.  SULLIVAN. 


BOSTON,  Mar  13,  1815. 


In  SENATE,  June  3,  1815. 
Read  and  sent  down, 

JOHN  PHILLIPS,  President. 


City  of  Washington,  March  3,  1815. 
SIR, 

YOUR  letter  of  the  13th  ultimo,  inclosing  a  Re 
solution  of  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  requesting  the  Se 
nators  and  Representatives  of  the  Commonwealth  in  Congress, 
to  cause  certain  arricles,  thereto  subjoined,  to  be  proposed  as 
amendment*  to  the  Constitution, of  the  United  States,  arrived 
at  so  late  a  period  of  the  session  as  to  preclude  all  hope  of  their 
being  discussed,  we  therefore  united  in  opinion  that  it  was  ex- 


3$ 

pectient,  in  presenting  them,  to  ask  merely  that  they  might  lie 
on  the  speaker's  table.  This  has  Ueen  done,  and  so  they  have 
been  received  by  the  House. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully, 

Sir, 
Your  obedient  servants, 

T.  PICKERING, 
LABAN  WHEATON, 
WM.  ELY, 
C.  KING, 

ABTEMAS  WARD, 
WM.  BAYLIES 
ABIJAH  BIGELOW, 
WM.  REED, 

GfcOKGE  B    ADBURY, 

JOHN  REED, 
JOHN  W.  HTJLBERT, 
^NATHANIEL  RUGGLES, 
ELIJAH  BRIGHAM. 

QjF'We  have  signed  this  letter  in  the  House,  and  the  other  Members  from 
Massachusetts  happen  to  be  absent  at  the  closing  of  it. 

His  Excellency  Governor  STRONG. 

In  SENATE,  JuneS,  1815. 
Read  and  sent  down, 

JOHN  PHILLIPS^  President 


CIRCULAR. 

Harrisburg,  15th  March,  1815, 


IN  conformity  with  a  resolution  by  the  Legislature 
of  Peonsjlvania,  1  have  the  honor  to  transmit  to  you  the  result    ' 


from  a  submission  (o  that  Assembly  of  certain  propositions  by 
the  Legislatures  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  for  amend 
ing  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  with  a  request  that 
it  be  laid  before  the  Legislature  of  the  State  over  which  you 
preside, 

With  high  regard, 

I  am, 

Sir, 
Your  obedient  Servant, 

SIMON  SNYDER. 

His  Excellency  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts. 

In  SENATE,  June  3,  1815. 
Read  and  sent  down, 

JOHN  PHILLIPS,  President. 


The  Committee  to  whom  were  referred  two  Communications 
from  the  Governors  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,  in 
closing  certain  Amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  (Jni  • 
ted  States  : 

REPORT, 

THAT  they  have  given  to  the  proposed  amendments, 
the  mature  consideration  to  which  they  are  entitled,  no  less 
from  their  intrinsic  importance,  than  from  the  great  national 
crisis  in  which  they  were  originally  projected.  As  the  amend 
ments,  moreover,  embrace  several  very  essential  alterations  in 
the  political  charter  of  the  union,  and  as  the  committee  will  be 
obliged  to  offer  a  reluctant  dissent  to  all  of  them,  it  will  not  be 
superfluous  to  explain  somewhat  in  detail  the  reasons  of  their 
decision  In  the  propriety  of  this  course  they  acquiesce  with 
less  reluctance,  since  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  conduct 
of  this  statedn  thus  re-examining  the  foundations  of  the  public 
liberty,  she  may  at  least  claim  the  privilege  of  giving  an  im 
partial  opinion  on  them.  The  amendments,  as  far  as  they  ef 
fect,  local  interests,  relate  chiefly  to  the  slave  representation, 
the  creation  of  new  states,  the  restraints  on  commerce,  and  the 


37. 

restriction  by  geographical  boundaries,  of  the  choice  of  the 
president.  Pennsylvania  has  scarcely  any  slaves,  she  is  at 
once  agricultural  as  well  as  commercial,  her  relative  import 
ance  can  be  but  little  affected  by  the  addition  of  new  stairs,  and 
during  the  whole  history  of  her  connexion  with  *he  union,  con 
tent  with  fulfilling  all  her  duties  to  it,  she  has  neither  claimed 
nor  courted  the  elevation  of  any  of  her  citizens  to  the  chief  ma 
gistracy.  She  may  therefore  confidently  appeal  to  her  history 
and  her  situation  to  vindicate  her  from  the  suspicion  of  yield 
ing  up  her  judgment  to  the  influence  of  interested  motives 

The  first  amendment  is  in  these  words  :  *'  Representatives 
and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several  slates 
•which  may  be  included  within  this  union  according  totheir  res 
pective  number  of  free  persons,  including  those  bound  to  ser 
vice  for  a  term  of  years,  and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  and 
all  other  persons  " 

The  object  of  this  amendment  is  to  exclude  from  the  list  of 
inhabitants  conferring  the  right  ot  representation  three  fifths  of 
the  slaves  within  the  union.  It  cannot  be  concealed  that  this 
subject  is  surrounded  by  difficulties,  and  originally  presented 
important  obstacles  to  the  union.  It  was  contended  then,  as 
it  is  still  asserted,  that  this  unhappy  race  of  beings,  degraded 
alike  by  intellect  and  condition,  could  not  be  considered  above 
the  animals  which  laboured  by  their  side — that  they  were  not 
admitted  by  their  owners  to  any  share  of  political  power  in  the 
states  where  they  resided  ;._that  they  coulii  not  therefore  with 
propriety  be  intruded  into  any  participation  of  power,  with 
freemen — that  in  short  they  should  be  regarded  as  property, 
not  as  persons.  It  was  then  answered,  as  it  may  still  be  argu 
ed,  that  the  states  not  burdened  with  this  species  of  inhabi 
tants,  the  states  which  had  always  professed  to  regard  slaves  as 
men  whose  bondage  was  oppression,  should  not  be  the  first  to 
degrade  them  to  the  rank  of  mere  cattle — that  the  general  prin 
ciple  of  the  confederation  was,  to  apportion  representatives  a- 
mong  the  states  according  to  inhabitants — that  if  the  southern 
states  chose  to  give  their  slaves  the  privilege  of  voting,  or  pla 
ced  thc;ii  on  the  footing  of  bound  servants,  they  would  be  en 
titled  to  representation  according  to  their  full  nuinoers  ; — and 
that  the  refusal  to  their  slaves  of  that  privilege  was,  like  the 
qualification  of  property  required  in  some  other  states,  a  mere 
municipal  regulation  with  which  the  union  had  no  concern. — 
This  reasoning  satisfied  the  Cramers  of  the  constitution.  They 
thought  wisely,  that  slaves  were  to  be  considered  partly  as  pro 
perty,  and  partly  as  persons  ;  and  that  it  would  be  unjust  to 
condemn  their  owners  to  taxation  on  their,  account,  without 


38 

some  indemnity.  They  therefore  compromised  the  conflicting 
opinions.  They  agreed  to  consider  the  slaves  as  men,  but  as 
men  whose  value  the  loss  of  freedom  had  depreciated,  and  ming 
ling  the  hopes  of  power  with  the  chances  of  taxation,  they  de 
cided,  that  three  fifths  only  of  these  unfortunate  beings  should 
enter  into  the  computation  of  representatives 

Nearly  thirty  years  have  elapsed  since  this  arrangement  re 
ceived  the  sanction  of  the  statesmen  of that  day.  It  is  now  pro 
posed  to  change  it.  The  great  object  jof  inquiry  therefore 
should  be,  whether  in  the  progress  of  time,  this  compact  which 
then  seemed  fair  and  equal  has  disappointed  the  hopes  or  viola, 
ted  the  rights,  or  wounded  the  interest  of  one  of  the  parties. 

Now  it  does  not  appear  that  either  the  slaves  or  the  slave  re 
presentation  has  increased  in  a  proportion  unexpected  or  op 
pressive  The  black  population  now  does  not  bear  a  greater 
proportion  to  the  white  than  it  did  in  1790,  on  the  contrary  the 
number  of  slaves,  and  of  course  the  power  they  confer,  is  actu 
ally  decreasing  in  proportion  to  the  whites.  In  1790  the  slaves 
were  697,697  out  of  3,929,326,  more  than  a  fifth  of  the  whole 
population;  in  1810  they  were  1,191,364  out  of  7,239,903, 
not  quite  a  sixth  ;  and  the  decrease  must  soon  be  greater  at»  the 
importation  of  slaves  which  was  allowed  during  eighteen  years 
ot  this  period  is  now  prohibited 

Among  the  slave  holding  states  themselves,  the  progress  of 
the  black  and  white  population  has  been  steady  and  equal. — 
The  census  of  1790  gave  to  the  states  of  Delaware,  Maryland, 
Virginia, (including  Kentucky)  (North  Carolina,  South  Caroli 
na,  and  Georgia,  653,910  slaves  out  of  1,916,481  inhabitants, 
being  45,000  more  than  a  third.  The  census  of  1800,  gave  to 
the  same  states  and  Tennessee,  (then  first  enumerated  se 
parately)  853,801  slaves  out  of  2,613.057  inhabitants,  41,000 
less  than  a  third.  The  census  of  18 1 0,  gave  to  the  same  states, 
including  Orleans,  1,138,290  out  of  3,395,684,  19000  more 
than  a  third.  It  would  not  seem  therefore  that  the  slaves  have 
increased  either  as  respects  the  union  at  large,  or  the  white  po 
pulation  of  the  slave  holding  states  themselves,  with  so  dispro 
portionate  a  rapidity  as  to  derange  the  balance  of  power  estab 
lished  by  the  Constitution.  This  may  be  seen  by  comparing 
the  relative  strength  of  the  representation  caused  by  the  slaves. 
The  697,697  slaves  of  1790  furnished  according  to  the  ratio  of 
one  representative  to  33,000  of  three  fifths  of  them  twelve  repre 
sentatives  out  of  one  hundred  and  six,  the  whole  number  of 
members  of  congress.  The  896,849  of  1800,  bv  the  same  ra 
tio  furnished  16  out  of  142— and  the  1,138.265  (the  number 
of  represented  slaves  now)  at  the  rate  of  35^000  to  a  rcpre- 


39 

sentative,  furnishes  19  out  of  182,  which  proves  a  gradual 
decline  in  the  comparitive  representation  of  slaves.  The  slave 
holding  states  have  moreover  advanced  even  their  white  popu 
lation,  in  a  greater  ratio  than  many  of  the  states  of  the  \orth. 
During  the  20  years  from  1790  to  1810,  Massachusetts  had  not 
added  one  fourth  to  her  populat ion, Rhode  Island  notoneeighth, 
Connecticut  not  one  tenth,  whilst  during  the  same  period  the 
white  population  of  Maryland  has  increased  as  rapidly  as  that 
of  Massachusetts,  the  population  of  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
and  i^outli  Carolina,  more  rapidly,  Georgia  has  nearly  trebled 
her  white  population,  Kentucky  has  increased  hers  five  fold, 
and  that  of  Tennessee  has  augmented  even  within  ten  years  to 
more  than  double.  From  these  facts  it  would  appear  that  the 
slave  representation  does  not  seem  likely  to  grow  into  dispropor- 
tioned  magnitude,  nor  has  any  influence  or  power  been  annex 
ed  to  it  greater  than  must  have  been  originally  contemplated. 
In  examining,  however,  the  question  of  the  comparitive  influ 
ence  of  the  states,  it  should  not  be  dissembled  that  the  power 
communicated  by  the  slaverepresentation  is  in  a  very  great  de 
gree  counterbalanced  in  favor  of  the  states,  to  whom  that  repre 
sentation  is  most  offensive,  by  other  advantages  from  a  differ 
ent  source.  The  efficient  power  of  any  state  in  the  union,  does 
not  depend  on  the  number  of  its  representatives  in  one  branch 
of  congress  :  it  is  compounded  of  the  number  of  those  represen 
tatives,  and  the  number  of  its  senators  ;  nor  can  any  true  esti 
mate  of  the  relative  importance  of  the  states  be  formed  if  this 
prominent  consideration  be  overlooked.  The  Senate  is  in  fact 
the  principal  depository  of  the  national  power.  An  integral 
branch  of  the  legislature,  none  of  the  most  ordinary  acts  of  go 
vernment  can  be  performed  without  its  consent ;  the  high  court 
of  impeachment,  itexercises  the  authority  of  a  supreme  judicial 
tribunal.  The  treaty  making  power  is  there,  .no  officer  can  be 
appointed  without  its  consent,  and  so  far  are  these  privileges 
from  being  merely  nominal,  that  we  have  seen  that  body  reject 
the  nominations  of  the  president^  refuse  to  ratify  articles  of  a 
foreign  treaty,  and  deny  its  assent  to  laws  recommended  by  the 
president,  and  passed  by  the  other  branch  of  the  legislature — 
The  best  test  of  power  therefore  is  in  the  Senate,  and  it  is  th;*re 
that  the  complaining  States  actually  enjoy  an  ample  indemni 
ty  for  all  the  inequalities  in  their  representation.  The  commit 
tee  reluctantly  advert  to  a  topic  of  so  much  delicacy,  but  since 
they  have  been  tempted  into  the  discussion  by  the  complaints 
of  other  States,  they  cannot  disguise  their  conviction,  that  the 
true  sufferers  in  the  confederacy,  those  who  alone  have  cause  to 


40 

lament  the  disproportion  between  their  strength  and  (heir  pow 
er,  are  the  large  middle  states. 

The  theory  ot  state  sovereignty  has  assigned  to  each  an  equal 
power  in  the  Senate;  but  in  practical  legislation  the  exercise  of 
that  power  is  in  the  highest  degree  unequal.     The  State  of 
Connecticut,  of  Vermont,  or  of  New  Hampshire,  for  instance, 
docs  not  possess  one  third  of  the  population  of  New  York  or 
Pennsylvania,  yet  they  have  each  a  voice  in  the  Senate  equal 
to  that  of  these'States.     For  every  inhabitant  of  Rhode  Island 
there  are  more  than  ten  in  Pennsylvania,  and  more  than  twelve 
in  New  York,  yet  in  all  that  concerns  the  commerce,  the  agri 
culture,  the  whole  destinies  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania, 
the  76000  people  of  Rhode  Island  have  an  equal  voice  with  the 
959,000  of  New  York,  or  the  810,000  of  Pennsylvania.     New 
York  and  Pennsylvania  contain  about  300,000  inhabitants, 
more  than  all  the  five  States  east  of  the  North  river,   yet  those 
States  h?xve  no  less  than  10  voices  in  the  Senate,  while  New- 
York  and  Pennsylvania  have  together  only  four.     Compared 
•with  the  slave  holding  states  this  disparity,  though  less  striking 
is  sufficiently  obvious.     Virginia  has  a  white  population  equal 
to  that  of  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island  and  Newhampshire,  vet 
her  two  voices  in  the  Senate  are  overpowered  by  those  of  six  se 
nators  from  those  States      The  five  Southern  States,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  contain 
132*000  white  inhabitants  more  than  the  five  northern  States  of 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Newllampshire,and 
Vermont,  besides  nearly  one  million  of  black  inhabitants  ;  yet 
their  power  in  the  Senate  is  the  same.     Thus  if  the  392,000 
slaves  of  Virginia  give  her  six  representatives  more  than  Con 
necticut,  Rhode  Island  and  New  Hampshire,  that  is  six  voices 
more  out  of  182,  those  three  States  have  in  the  Senate  four  more 
voices  than  an  equal  white  population  in  Virginia,  that  is  four 
more  voices  out  of  thirty  six.     Where  they  lose  a  thirtieth 
therefore  in  one  house,  they  gain  a  ninth  in  the  more  important 
branch  of  the  legislature.     So  too,  the  live  States  east  of  the 
North  river,  containing  little  more  than  a  fifth  of  the  whole  in 
habitants  of  the  Union,  ant!  riot  a  fourth  of  the  white  inhabi 
tants  has  a  power  in  the  Senate  actually  greatei  than  one  fourth. 
The  northern  states  have  besides  another  counterpoise  for  the 
disproportionate  advancement  of  their  neighbours.     The  oilier 
slates  are  in  a  very  considerable  degree  indebted  for  the  increase 
of  people  to  the  constant  emigrations  from  New  England,  and 
in  their  new  stations,  the  intelligence  and  activity  of  these  emi 
grants,  ensure  them  a  rapid  promotion  to  places  of  power,  to 
which  they  cannot  fail  to  carry  ir filial  attachment  and  regard 


41 

for  the  interests  of  their  parent  state.  Thus,  it  is  understood 
that  in  the  last  Congress  nine  out  of  seventeen  of  the  representa 
tives  of  New- York  were  natives  of  Connecticut ; — in  the  present 
Congress  also  nine  of  the  representatives  of  New  York  are  na 
tives  of  Connecticut,  aud  a  great  number  of  the  members  of 
Congress  from  the  middle  and'  western  states  are  emigrants 
from  the  northern,  whose  early  associations  will  give  them  a 
natural  and  honorable  respect  for  the  land  of  their  nativity. 

From  these  considerations^  the  committee  conclude,  that  if 
any  change  in  the  fundamental  principle  of  representation  be 
desirable,  it  should  be  a  complete  one,  such  a  one  as  would 
place  the  real  power  of  the  government  on  the  basis  of  its  white 
population,  and  render  the  number  not  merely  of  Representa 
tives  but  of  Senators  proportioned  to  the  free  white  inhabitants 
within  the  Union.  Any  alteration  less  than  this,  would  be  on 
ly  partial  in  its  operation,  and  would  vary  the  terms  of  the  ori 
ginal  compact  without  carrying  into  full  and  fair  operation  the 
new  principle  introduced  into  it.  The  corrmuttee,  therefore, 
dissent  from  the  proposed  amendment. 

The  next  amendment  is  in  these  words  :  "  No  new  state  shall 
be  admitted  into  the  Union  by  congress,  in  virtue  of  the  power 
granted  by  the  constitution,  without  the  concurrence  of  two, 
thirds  of  both  houses." 

The  erection  of  new  states  seems  to  have  been  contemplated 
at  every  period  of  our  Union.  In  the  constitution  of  1778, 
Canada  was  invited  to  accede  to  the  confederation,  and  in  the 
existing  constitution  of  1787,  it  is  declared  that  u  new  states 
shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union"  without  any  qualification  ex 
cept  the  previous  consent  of  the  parties,  where  the  new  were 
created  within  the  limits  of  old  states.  Several  states  of  that 
description  have  since  been  erected,  but  the  principal  object 
on  which  the  constitutional  provision  has  now  to  operate  is  the 
vacant  territory  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  whicli 
by  the  existing  laws  are  entitled  to  admission  on  certain  speci 
fied  terms.  The  right  as  well  as  the  justice  of  varying  those 
terms  are  equally  doubtful.  First  as  to  the  right.  By  the  or 
dinance  of  1787,  it  is  conceded  to  the  inhabitants  N.  \V .  of  the 
Ohio  that  not  less  than  three  nor  more  than  five  states  shall  be 
erected  within  their  limits,  and  that,  whenever  any  one  of  those 
states  had  60,000  free  inhabitants,  they  should  be  admitted  in 
to  the  Union  on  the  same  footing  as  the  original  states.  It  wa* 
moreover  stipulated,  that  u  as  far  as  it  can  be  consistent  willi 
the  general  interest  of  the  confederacy,  such  admission  shall  be 
allowed  when  there  may  be  a  less  number  of  free  inhabitants  in 
the  state  than  60,000."  This  agreement  is  introduced  by  the 
6 


42 

following  emphatic  declaration,  "It  is  hereby  ordained  and 

declared  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  the  following  articles 
shall  be  considered  as  articles  of  compact,  between  the  original 
states  and  the  people  and  states  in  the  said  territory,  and  for 
ever  remain  unalterable  except  by  common  consent."  With 
regard  to  the  stales  thus  designated  it  is  no  longer  in  the  power 
of  Congress  to  prescribe  new  terms  of  admission  To  other 
parts  of  the  vacant  territory  of  the  United  States,  the  same  ob 
stacle  of  binding  stipulation  may  not  apply,  but  the  general 
principle  of  allowing  to  the  new  states  a  share  of  power  cor 
respondent  to  their  growing  wealth  and  population  seems  fair 
and  reasonable.  New  states  can  be  hereafter  formed  only  of 
American  territory  and  American  population,  of  land  already 
in  our  possession,  or  to  be  hereafter  acquired,  and  of  people  e- 
rnigrants  from  other  parts  of  the  Union  Is  it  then  wise  to 
close  against  those  who  have  retiied  to  the  wilderness,  and 
through  whose  exertions  the  cultivation,  the  wealth,  and  the 
power  of  the  whole  nation  is  incalculably  augmented?  Is  it 
•wise  to  deny  them,  as  they  emerge  from  poverty  to  opulence,  n 
share  in  governing  the  fruits  of  their  own  industry  ?  Is  it  just 
to  deny  to  an  American  citizen  his  birth  light  of  political  pow 
er,  because  he  removes  from  the  eastern  to  the  western  section 
of  the  Union  ?  Or,  is  it  not  at  once  a  more  liberal  and  judicious 
policy  to  suffer  their  political  importance  to  expand,  as  their 
territory  ripens  in  population  and  improvement  ? 

The  progress  of  our  history  has  not  taught  u>  to  apprehend 
danger  from  this  source.  Since  the  adoption  of  the  constitu 
tion  five  new  states  have  been  admitted  into  the  Union,  one  in 
the  north,  Vreriuont, — one  in  the  south,  Louisiana, — three  in 
the  west,  Kentucky,  Ohio  and  'Tennessee.  The  first  has  since 
her  admission  increased  more  rapidly  than  any  of  the  northern 
slates,  and  is  now  the  third  in  rank  of  the  live.  Kentucky  is 
more  populous  in  whites  than  any  northern  state  except  Mas 
sachusetts,  or  any  southern  state, except  Virginia,  Tennessee 
And  Ohio  have  equal  population  with  the  greater  part  of  the 
southern  and  northern  states,  and  will  no  doubt  at  the  next  cen 
sus  exceed  nearly  all  of  them.  Louisiana  trom  its  recent  oc«- 
cupationby  the  United  States,  has  a  population  about  equal  to 
Rhode-Island,  or  Delaware,  but  its  progress  is  much  more  ra 
pid,  and  we  may  safely  calculate  that  in  a  few  years  its  popu 
lation  will  equal  that  of  the  greater  part  of  the  slates  in  the  U- 
nioii.  From  this  review,  it  appears  that  no  particular  section 
of  country  has  been  a  gainer  by  the  admission  of  new  states  be 
yond  their  fair  claims  by  population,  and  that  the  privilege  of 
forming  them  has  been  accorded  indiscriminately  to  all  in  pro* 


43 

portion  as  their  powers  have  been  developed.  The  committee 
therefore  cannot  recommend  the  adoption  of  this  amendment. 
By  the  next  amendment  it  is  proposed,  that"  Congress  shall 
not  have  power  to  lay  any  embargo  on  the  ships  or  vessels  of 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  in  the  ports  or  harbours  thereof 
for  more  than  sixty  days." 

The  committee  can  see  little  in  the  principle  of  this  proposal 
to  recommend  it,  and  they  foresee  in  practice  very  serious  in- 
conveniencies  from  it.  In  most  oilier  nations  an  embargo  is 
principally  used  as  a  temporary  detention  to  conceal  or  to  fa 
cilitate  the  departure  of  some  expedition  ;  but  in  addition  to 
these  causes,  our  peculiar  situation  gives  to  such  a  measure  a 
character  of  defensive  war.  as  well  as  of  offensive  hostility.  An 
embargo  may  here  be  imposed  as  a  preliminary  to  war,  for  the 
purpose  of  retaining  at  home  resources  which  might  fall  into 
the  hands  of  adversaries,  and  of  warning  our  citizens  to  seek 
shelter  from  impending  hostilities.  This  country  too  stands 
in  a  relation  to  the  world  which  no  other  nation  occupies.  The 
United  States  is  a  great  granary  from  which  many  other  coun 
tries  are  supplied,  and  some  have  been  occasionally  fed.  To 
withhold  for  a  time  those  necessary  supplies  from  a  nation  com 
mitting  aggressions  against  us,  is  a  measure  of  fair,  obvious  and 
effectual  hostility,  by  which  the  offending  nation  may  be  re 
claimed  to  a  just  course  of  conduct.  Such  a  measure  should 
therefore  be  left,  with  the  other  incidents  of  war,  to  the  discre 
tion  of  Congress.  But  it  is  obvious  that  the  efficacy  of  au  em 
bargo  may  depend  on  its  duration.  Approaching  hostilities 
may  not  be  averted  or  determined  in  sixty  days.  Within  six 
ty  days  a  refusal  to  furnish  supplies  may  be  productive  of  no 
inconvenience  to  an  enemy.  If  it  be  said  the  embargo  may  be 
renewed,  why  the  necessity  of  any  limitation  of  time,  since  the 
same  power  which  can  renew  a  limited,  may  repeal  an  unquar 
lifted  embargo  when  circumstances  require  it.  But  during  the 
long  recess  of  Congress  it  would  be  impracticable  to  renew  an 
embargo  every  60  days.  The  more  judicious  plan  seems  to  be 
to  trust  the  power  where  it  now  is  ;  and  this  the  more  willingly 
as  our  recent  experience  will  have  furnished  the  means  of  ascer 
taining  the  nature  and  the  value  of  that  species  of  restriction. 

The  fourth  amendment  states,  that  "  Congress  shall  not  have 
power,  without  the  concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  both  houses, 
to  interdict  the  commercial  intercourse  between  the  UnitedStatcs 
and  any  foreign  nation,  or  the  dependencies  thereof." 

The  power  of  regulating  intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  is 
so  inherent  and  inseparable  an  incident  of  the  sovereignty  of 
the  Union,  that  it  cannot  be  taken  from  it  without  impairing 


44 

ils  most  important  functions.  A  majority  of  Congress  have 
now,  and  would  have  even  after  the  adoption  of  this  amend 
ment,  the  right  of"  regulating  commerce  with  foreign  nations,' 
— they  have  a  right  by  enormous  duties  on  foreign  merchan 
dize,  by  imposition  on  foreign  ships,  by  the  various  devices  of 
commercial  legislation,  to  establish  a  virtual  interdict  between 
us  and  foreign  nations.  It  is  not  perceived  therefore,  that  any 
thing  would  be  gained  by  requiring  two  thirds  to  do  nominally 
what  a  majority  may  do  actually,  and  even  the  little  thus  gain- 
ed  from  the  sovereignty  of  the  Union  would  be  not  only  with 
out  use,  but  actually  injurious,  by  weakening  some  of  the  most 
essential  and  valuable  powers  of  a  well  organized  government. 

The  next  proposal  is,  that  "  Congress  shall  not  make  or  de- 
elare  war,  or  authorize  acts  of  hostility  against  any  foreign  na 
tion,  without  the  concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  both  houses  of 
Congress,  except  such  acts  of  hostility  be  in  defence  of  the  ter 
ritories  of  the  United  States  when  actually  invaded." 

To  the  adoption  of  this  amendment  insuperable  objections 
present  themselves.  In  the  first  place,  its  tendency  like  that  of 
(he  two  preceding  amendments,  is  t?  enfeeble  the  national 
government.  Now  there  is  no  principle  of  our  political  system 
•which  the  experience  of  our  own  as  well  as  of  other  nations  has 
more  emphatically  recommended  than  this,  that  the  mainten 
ance  of  the  general  government  in  the  full  exercise  of  its  consti 
tutional  powers,  is  vital  to  the  freedom  and  the  greatness  of 
this  nation.  The  federal  constitution  was  established  amidst 
the  collisions  of  conflicting  sovereignties,  its  powers  were  con 
ceded  reluctantly  and  warily  by  the  jealousy  of  surrounding 
states,  whose  prophetic  suspicion  saw  in  it  the  embryo  of  usur 
pation  and  tyranny.  None  of  these  anticipations  have  been 
lealized.  The  dangers  to  public  liberty  are,  it  is  conceived, 
much  greater  from  the  states  themselves,  than  from  the  Union, 
and  our  whole  political  course  is  a  standing  admonition  to  the 
American  statesman  to  protect  at  all  times  and  at  all  hazards, 
the  national  government,  from  the  jealousy  of  discontented 
slates,  and  the  fatal  influence  of  sectional  and  local  preponder 
ance.  At  such  a  season  as  this,  therefore,  it  seems  unwise  to 
strip  the  government  of  the  union  of  its  highest  prerogatives,  to 
trammel  it  with  restrictions,  and  to  expose  it  to  partial  and  lo 
cal  influences  ;  for 

Secondly,  it  is  impossible  to  regard  the  amendment  in  any 
other  light  than  as  subjecting  the  majority  of  the  nation  to  the 
dominion  of  a  very  small  minority.  The  basis  of  our  whole 
government  is,  that  the  clear  ascertained  voice  of  the  majority 
must  be  obeyed — a  perfectly  fair  and  just  principle.  The  on- 


45 

ly  cases  in  which  the  constitution  has  varied  from  that  princi 
ple,  are  the  requisition  of  two-thirds  of  both  houses  to  counter 
balance  the  negative  of  the  President — the  requisition  of  two 
thirds  of  the  Senate  to  ratify  treaties,  where,  as  one  branch  of 
the  legislature  has  no  voice,  a  greater  number  of  the  other 
should  sanction  what  is  to  become  a  law  of  the  land — and  the 
requisition  of  two  thirds  of  the  Senators  in  impeachments,  a  pro 
vision  like  the  unanimity  of  a  jury  on  the  side  of  mercy.  But 
it  is  wholly  repugnant  to  our  institutions,  that  an  ordinary  act 
of  legislation,  like  a  declaration  of  war,  or  the  restriction  of  in 
tercourse  with  foreign  nations  should  depend  not  on  the  will  of 
a  majority,  but  in  tact  of  a  minority.  Such  an  arrangement 
would  leave  the  whole  nation  completely  at  the  mercy  of  a  small 
minority,  representing  perhaps  the  least  populous  part  of  the 
Uuion.  Suppose,  for  instance,  such  a  measure  recommended 
by  the  President,  and  passed  by  two  thirds  of  the  House  of  Re 
presentatives.  On  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  if  the  members  from 
Rhode-Island,  Vermont,  New  Hampshire,  Delaware,  Georgia 
ajid  Louisiana  combined,  the  law  would  be  defeated  ;  that  is, 
the  representatives  of  a  white  population  of  766,786  souls,  a 
population  less  than  that  of  New-York  alone,  or  Pennsylvania 
alone,  would  have  the  power  of  controling  the  whole  Union  ;  the 
representatives  of  910,959  souls  would  govern  the  fate  of 
7,239,903  ;~ *about  one  seventh  part  of  the  Union  would  thus 
be  made  completely  masters  of  the  whole. 

In  the  next  place,  the  restriction  proposed  could  not  be  made 
to  accord  with  the  general  powers  enjoved  at  present  by  the 
majority  of  Congress.  The  President  and  the  majority  in  Con 
gress  are  charged  with  the  general  defence  ;  they  regulate  com 
merce,  they  have  the  superintendance  of  foreign  affairs,  they 
have  the  means  of  raising  funds  and  armies  ;  they  have  the 
power,  therefore,  of  controling  all  the  preliminary  negociations 
and  measures  which  lead  to  war;  yet,  before  the  commencement 
of  hostilities  they  would  be  obliged  to  submit  to  the  will  of  the 
minority.  The  distinction  moreover,  suggested  by  the  amend 
ment,  would  be  wholly  fallacious  in  practice.  Offensive  hos 
tilities  are  often  the  best  means  of  defence,  and  that  surely  would 
be  a  most  impolitic  arrangement,  which  would  curb  the  spirit 
and  fetter  the  strength  of  the  nation,  which  might  condemn  it 
to  witness  the  grossest  insults  and  injuries,  which  would  render 
it  the  inactive  spectator  of  hostilities  against  us  on  the  ocean, 
and  the  total  annihilation  of  foreign  commerce,  until  the  enemy 
would  relieve  us  from  the  thraldom  of  a  small  minority,  by  an 
actual  invasion  of  our  soil.  The  unanimity  of  a  Polish  diet 
would  be  more  unreasonable,  but  it  would  scarcely  be  less  in. 


convenient.  The  danger  against  which  the  amendment  profes 
ses  to  guard,  is  that  of  a  small  majority  involving  the  nation  in 
war.  Such  a  conjuncture  may  possibly  arise,  but  it  is  a  fail- 
incident  to  the  many  advantages  of  our  form  of  government, 
and  the  majority  perceiving  its  weakness  should  proceed  with 
greater  caution.  In  other  countries  the  single  voice  of  the  so 
vereign  may  put  to  hazard  the  peace  of  the  nation.  Our  secu 
rity  k,  that  no  war  can  be  commenced  unless  the  executive, 
and  a  majority  both  of  the  representatives  and  senators  concur 
in  its  propriety.  To  require  more  than  that  majority,  is  inevi 
tably  to  make  the  will  of  the  greater  part  of  the  nation  submis 
sive  to  that  of  the  smaller.  The  committee  cannot  recommend 
the  adoption  of  such  a  principle. 

The  sixth  amendment  is,  u  That  no  person  who  shall  be 
hereafter  naturalized,  shall  be  eligible  as  a  member  of  th«  Sen 
ate  or  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  nor  be  ca 
pable  of  holding  any  civil  office  under  the  authority  of  the  Uni 
ted  States." 

It  is  unquestionably  true  that  the  rapid  progress  of  our  na 
tive  population  has  rendered  the  introduction  of  foreigners  an 
object  of  very  secondary  concern,  and  that  without  arrogance 
\ve  may  be  suffered  to  think  that  competent  persons  can  be  found 
among  our  native  citizens  to  fill  all  the  offices  of  government. 
Yet  it  may  be  fairly  questioned  whether  the  total  exclusion  pro 
posed,  is  generous  to  others,  or  wise  to  ourselves.  The  revolu 
tions  of  Europe  ma}?  hereafter  drive  as  they  have  already  driven, 
many  an  honorable  and  distinguished  exile  to  the  shelter  of  our 
hospitality.  The  distance  which  separates  him  from  his  native 
country,  is  some  guarantee  that  he  has  not  chosen  his  new  resi 
dence  from  any  motive  of  levity,  but  from  deliberate  choice  ; 
and  when  he  has  abjured  his  allegiance  to  that  country,  when 
his  fortunes  and  family  arc  fixed  among  us,  when  he  has  closed 
all  the  avenues  to  his  return,  when  a  long  probation  has  evin 
ced  his  attachment  to  our  institutions  ;  why  should  his  mind 
continue  still  in  exile,  and  why  should  the  natural  and  honor 
able  ambition  for  political  distinction  be  extinguished  for  ever 
in  4i is  breast  ?  why  too  should  we  deprive  ourselves  of  the 
choice  of  such  a  man,  whose  European  experience  may  be  use 
ful,  if  the  deliberate  voice  of  the  community  is  in  his  favor  ? 
Other  nations  do  not  indulge  in  so  jealous  an  exclusion.  There 
is  scarcely  a  nation  in  Europe  which  docs  not  habitually  employ 
the  talents  of  strangers,  where  ever  they  can  be  most  useful. 

Even  England  the  most  fastidious  of  all  the  nations  of  Eu 
rope  with  regard  to  strangers,  naturalization  is  in  many  re 
spects  more  easy -than  in  Hie  United  States-  Many  of  the  re- 


47 

strictions  on  aliens  may  be  at  once  removed  by  act  of  Parlia 
ment,  or  by  the  mere  wish  of  the  crown  ;  and  we  can  readily 
call  to  our  recollection,  even  within  the  present  reign,  several 
otticersof  high  rank,  both  civil  and  military,  employed  in  im 
portant  and  confidential  stations  by  the  government  of  that 
country  In  the  United  States  moreover  we  enjoy  a  greater  se 
curity  than  any  other  nations,  from  the  deliberation  with  which 
the  choice  of  our  country  must  be  made — the  probationary 
term  of  residence,  and  the  certainty  that  no  foreigner  can  rise 
to  power  but  by  the  voluntary  suffrage  of  the  community.  The 
number  of  foreigners  now  in  office  does  not  threaten  any  incon 
venience  and  even  that  number  will  no  doubt  rapidly  diminish. 
Out  of  182  representatives  in  Congress  there  are,  it  is  believed, 
not  more  than  four  who  were  born  out  of  the  limits  of  the  Uni 
ted  States,  and  in  the  Senate  not  one  member.  In  one  respect 
too  the  operation  of  the  amendment  would  be  injurious  by  pre« 
venting  the  employment  of  American  consuls,  natives  of  the 
countries  in  which  they  reside — a  practice  almost  universal  a- 
mong  commercial  nations.  The  natural  and  prudent  precau 
tions  against  foreign  influence  will  therefore  probably  be  satis 
fied  by  requiring  a  long  noviciate  to  wean  a  stranger  from  for 
eign  modes  of  thinking,  and  insure  his  attachment  to  our  insti 
tutions,  and  after  that  ordeal  is  past,  leaving  him  a  fair  compe 
tition  with  native  talents  for  political  advancement ;  a  compe 
tition  in  which  the  natural  bias  in  favor  pf  our  own  country 
men  will  insure  them  at  least  an  equal  chance  of  success.  The 
committee,  therefore,  recommend  a  dissent  from  the  proposed 
amendment. 

The  seventh  amendment  is,  that  "  The  same  person  shall  not 
be  elected  President  of  the  United  States  a  second  time,  aor 
shall  the  President  be  elected  from  the  same  state  two  terms  in 
succession." 

The  first  part  of  this  amendment,  the  provisipn  against  the 
re-election  of  the  President,  is  strongly  recommended  by  its 
tendency  to  insure  the  more  complete  independence  of  that  of 
ficer.  Jt  is  supposed  that  after  reaching  the  highest  elevation 
to  which  his  country  could  raise  him,  a  President  of  the  Uni 
ted  States,  with  nothing  to  fear  from  the  ambition  of  rival  poli 
ticians,  nor  to  hope  from  popular  favor,  haying  no  partizans 
to  reward  for  the  pasi  or  to  gain  for  the  future,  would  exercise 
with  more  freedom  and  firmness  the  functions  of  his  magistracy. 
This  high  independence  of  character  is  so  admirable  a  part  of 
a  statesman's  character  that  to  secure  it  we  might  be  tempted  to 
overlook  the  many  inconvejiiencies  which  necessarily  accom 
pany  the  proposed  amendment ; — the  instability  and  vacilla- 


•       48 

tion  for  instance  which  such  frequent  changes  give  to  the  ad 
ministration  ; — the  denial  to  the  nation  of  the  future  services  of 
a  President  who  has  proved  himself  eminently  qualified  for  his 
office,  and  the  destruction  of  one  great  inducement  to  good  con 
duct  in  an  officer,  the  hope  of  being  rewarded  by  future  confi 
dence  for  past  services. 

The  amendment  is  however  defective  in  two  respects.  Its 
chief  object  is  to  shield  the  independence  of  the  President  by 
preventing-  future  intrigues  for  power.  It  should  therefore 
proscribe  the  ex-president  not  merely  from  the  chief  magistra 
cy  but  from  all  other  offices.  The  samo  President  who  would 
submit  to  the  dominion  of  others  to  secure  a  re-election  would  be 
equally  subservient  for  the  vice-presidency,  or  he  might  become 
the  partizan  of  that  candidate  for  the  next  presidency  who 
\vould  secure 'him  a  retreat  in  some  subordinate  station  The 
exclusion  from  office  to  be  effectual  must  be  general.  The  a- 
mendment  errs  in  another  respect.  One  of  the  great  features  ot 
the  executive  should  be  permanency,  and  stability.  It  repre* 
sents  the  nation,  it  is  immediately  charged  with  its  foreign, 
concerns,  it  therefore  should  present  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
something  systematic  in  its  conduct  and  permanent  in  its  char 
acter.  Frequent  changes  give  it  a  fatal  cast  of  irresolution  and 
inconstancy.  The  short  period  for  which  the  President  is  cho 
sen  exposes  the  administration  to  that  error,  but  his  re-eligibil 
ity  (if  his  conduct  be  approved)  furnishes  the  means  of  correct 
ing  it.  If  therefore  it  should  be  deemed  proper  to  deny  the 
right  of  re-election,  the  President  should  be  chosen  originally 
for  a  longer  term,  since  it  would  be  an  injurious  anomaly  in  our 
system,  that  the  tenure  of  the  judiciary  should  be  without  any 
limitation  of  time,  that  of  the  Senate  six  years,  with  an  indefi 
nite  right  of  re-election — while  the  executive  alone,  that  branch 
of  the  government  where  system,  permanency,  and  experience 
can  alone  secure  a  wise  administration  ; — that  the  executive 
alone  should  be  condemned  to  more  frequent  changes  than  any 
other  part  of  the  government. 

With  regard  to  the  second  branch  of  the  amendment,  it  is 
not  perceived  that  any  advantage  could  be  gained  by  circum 
scribing  the  public  choice  within  any  geographical  bounda 
ries.  As  the  formation  of  the  constitution,  when  the  states  were 
less  acquainted  with  each  other,  and  more  jealous,  both  of  the 
general  government  and  of  themselves,  than  they  now  are,  it  was 
a  natural  precaution  against  the  accumulation  of  power,  either 
in  the  United  States,  or  any  particular  state,  that  the  two  high 
est  officers  of  the  government  should  not  be  from  the  same  state. 
That  restriction  still  exists.  But  our  experience  since  has  not 


49 

proved  the  utility  of  selecting  officers  of  any  kind,  with  refer 
ence  merely  to  their  places  of  residence,  and  all  those  arrange 
ments  which  indicate  that  we  are  citizens  of  a  state,  rather  than 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  are  not  now  to  be  encouraged.  It 
seems  wiser  to  leave  the  choice  of  the  nation  perfectly  unre 
strained — and  to  suffer  the  discernment  of  the  country  to  select 
its  best  citizens,  without  regarding  the  section  of  the  Union 
where  they  may  happen  to  reside. 

The  committee,  therefore,  conclude  this  examination  by  sub 
mitting  to  the  consideration  of  the  Senate,  the  following  reso 
lutions  : 

Whereas,  the  Legislatures  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts 
have  proposed  the  following  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  i 

First — Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned 
among  the  several  states  which  may  be  included  within  this 
Union,  according  to  their  respective  number  of  free  persons, 
including  those  bound  to  serve  for  a  term  of  years,  and  exclu 
ding  Indians  not  t#xed  and  all  other  persons. 

Second — No  new  state  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union  by 
Congress  in  virtue  of  the  power  granted  by  the  Constitution, 
without  the  concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  both  houses. 

Third — Congress  shall  not  have  power  to  lay  any  embargo  on 
the  ships  or  vessels  of  the  United  States  in  the  ports  or  harbors 
thereof,  for  more  than  sixty  days. 

Fourth — Congress  shall  not  have  power  without  the  concur 
rence  of  twolhiids  of  both  houses,  to  interdict  the  commercial 
intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  any  foreign  nation, 
or  the  dependencies  thereof. 

ftfth — Congress  shall  not  make  or  declare  war,  or  authorize 
acts  of  hostility  against  any  foreign  nation  without  the  concur 
rence  of  two  thirds  of  both  houses,  except  such  acts  of  hostili 
ty  be  in  defence  of  the  territories  of  the  United  States,  when  ac 
tually  invaded. 

Sixth — s  o  person,  who  shall  hereafter  be  naturalized,  shall 
be  eligible  as  a  member  of  the  Senate  or  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  the  United  States,  nor  capable  of  holding  any  civil  of 
fice  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States. 

Seventh — The  same  person  shall  not  be  elected  President  of 
the  United  States  a  second  time  ;  nor  shall  the  President  be 
elected  from  the  same  state  two  terms  in  succession. 

Resolved^  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  liepiesentatires  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  in  General  Assembly  met, 
That  it  is  inexpedient  to  concur  in  the  said  amendments. 

Resolved^  That  the  Governor  be  requested  to  transmit  a  copy 
7 


50 

of  the  foregoing  preamble  and  resolution  to  each  of  the  Sena 
tors  and  Representatives  of  this  state  in  Congress,  and  to  the 
Executive  of  each  State  in  the  Union,  with  a  request  that  the 
same  be  laid  before  the  Legislature  thereof. 

PENNSYLVANIA,  ss. 

SECRETARY'S  OFFICE, 

Harrisburgh,  March  15^,  1815. 
A  true  Copy  of  the  Original, 

JAMES  TRIMBLE,  Deputy  Sec'y* 


STATE  OF  NEW-JERSEY. 

HOUSE  OF  ASSEMBLY,  TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY,  12th,  1815. 

RESOLVED  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of 
New-Jersey )  That  the  sev^n  several  propositions  of  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  the  words  follow 
ing,  viz. 

"  First — Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  appor 
tioned  among  the  several  States  which  may  be  included  within 
this  Union*  according  to  their  respective  numbers  of  free  per 
sons,  including  those  bound  to  serve  for  a  term  of  years,  and 
excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  and  all  other  persons. 

Second — No  new  State  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union  by 
Congress,  in  virtue  of  the  power  granted  by  the  Constitution, 
without  the  concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  both  houses. 

Third — Congress  shall  not  have  power  to  lay  any  embargo 
on  the  ships  or  vessels  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  in 
the  ports  or  harbors  thereof,  for  more  than  sixty  days. 

Fourth — Congress  shall  not  have  power  without  the  concur 
rence  of  two  thirds  of  both  houses,  to  interdict  the  commercial 
intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  any  foreign  nation, 
or  the  dependencies  thereof. 

fifth — Congress  shall  not  make  or  declare  war,  or  authorize 
acts  of  hostility  against  any  foreign  nation,  without  the  con 
currence  of  two  thirds  of  both  houses,  except  such  acts  of  hos- 


51 

tility  be  in  defence  of  the  territories  of  the  United  States  when 
actually  invaded. 

Sixth — No  person  who  shall  hereafter  be  naturalized,  shall 
be  eligible  as  a  member  of  the  Senate  or  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  the  United  States,  nor  capable  of  holding  any  civil  of 
fice  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States. 

Seventh — The  same  person  shall  not  be  elected  President  of 
the  United  States  a  second  time  ;  nor  shall  the  President  be 
elected  from  the  same  State  two  terms  in  succession," 

Be  and  the  same  are  hereby  rejected  ;  and  that  his  Excellen 
cy  thj  Governor  be  requested  to  communicate  information 
thereof  to  the  Executives  of  the  several  States  and  of  the  Gen 
eral  Government. 

HOUSE  OF  ASSEMBLY,  FEBRUARY  17,  1815. 

This  Resolution  having  been  three  times  read  and  compared 
in  this  House, 
Resolved,  That  this  House  agree  thereto. 

By  order  of  the  House, 

SAMUEL  PENNINGTON,  Speaker. 

COUNCIL  CHAMBER,  FEBRUARY  18,  1815. 

This  Resolution  having  been  read  and  considered  in  Council, 
Resolved,  That  this  House  agree  thereto. 
By  order  of  Council, 

WILLIAM  KENNEDY,  Vice  President. 


Trenton,  February  20,  1815. 
SIR, 

I  HAVE  the  honor  to  communicate  to  your  Ex 
cellency  the  decision  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New- 
Jersey  on  the  foregoing  seven  articles  proposed  by  the  Legisla 
ture  of  the  State  of  Connecticut  as  amendments  to  the  Consti- 


52 

(niion  of  tbe  United  States,  and  beg  leave  to  request  your  Ex 
cellency  to  lay  the  same  before  (he  Legislature  of  your  State. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

With  great  respect, 

Your  very  humble  Servant, 
WILLIAM  S.  PENNINGTON. 

To  His  Excellency  CALEB  STRONG,  Esq.  7 
Governor  of  Massachusetts.  3 

P.  S.  The  Legislature  of  this  State  rose  on  the  13th  inst.  ;  your  Communi 
cation  of  the  13th  was  not  received  until  the  19th,  of  consequence  it  cannot  be 
laid  before  the  Legislature  until  the  next  session  of  that  body. 

In  SEN  ATE,  June  3,  1815. 
Read  and  sent  down, 

JOHN  PHILLIPS,  President. 


Albany^  May  4M,  1815. 
Sm, 

I  AM  directed  by  the  Senate  and  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  New- York,  to  transmit  to  you  the  annexed  resolution, 
rejecting  the  amendments  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
Stales,  proposed  by  the  States  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecti 
cut  ;  and  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Sir, 

With  great  respect, 

Your  obedient  Servant, 

DANIEL  D.  TOMPKINS. 

His  Excellency  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts. 


53 
STATE  OF  NEW-YORK. 

IW  ASSEMBLY,  APRIL  llth,  1815. 

f 

RESOLVED,  That  the  seven  several  propositions  of  a- 
mendmentto  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  the  words 
following,  to  wit : 

"  birst — Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  appor 
tioned  among  the  several  States  which  may  be  included  with 
in  this  Union,  according  to  their  respective  numbers  of  free 
persons,  including  those  bound  to  serve  for  a  term  of  years,  and 
excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  and  all  other  persons. 

Second — No  new  State  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  by 
Congress,  in  virtue  of  the  power  granted  by  the  Constitution, 
without  the  concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  both  houses. 

Third — Congress  shall  not  have  power  to  lay  any  embargo 
on  the  ships  or  vessels  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  in  the 
ports  and  harbors  theieof,  for  more  than  sixty  days. 

fourth — Congress  shall  not  have  power,  without  the  concur 
rence  of  two  thirds  of  both  houses,  to  interdict  the  commercial 
intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  any  foreign  nation, 
or  the  dependencies  thereof. 

Fifth— Congress  shall  not  make  or  declare  war,  or  authorize 
acts  of  hostility  against  any  foreign  nation,  without  the  con 
currence  of  two  thirds  of  both  houses,  except  such  acts  of  hos 
tility  be  in  defence  of  the  territories  of  the  United  States  when 
actually  invaded. 

Sixth — No  person  who  shall  hereafter  be  naturalized,  shall 
be  eligible  as  a  member  of  the  Senate  or  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  the  United  States,  nor  capable  of  holding  any  civil  of 
fice  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States. 

Seventh — The  same  person  shall  not  be  elected  President  of 
the  United  States  a  second  time  ;  nor  shall  the  President  be 
elected  from  the  same  state  two  terms  in  succession." 

Be  and  the  same  are  hereby  rejected  ;  and  that  his  Excellen 
cy  the  Governor  be  requested  to  transmit  copies  of  this  resolu 
tion  to  the  Executives  of  the  several  States. 

AY.vo'Tfrf,  That  the  Honorable  the  Senate  be  requested  tocon- 
eur  with  this  House  in  the  foregoing  resolution. 

By  order  of  the  Assembly, 

AARON  CLARK,  Clerk. 


54 

ITS  SENATE,  ATHIL  17,  1815. 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  do  concur  with  the  Honorable  the 
Assembly  in  their  preceding  resolution. 

By  order  of  the  Senate, 

JOHN  F.  BACON,  Clerk. 

In  SENATE,  June  3,  1815. 
Read  and  sent  down, 

JOHN  PHILLIPS,  President. 


COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 

IK  SENATE,  JUNE  13th,  1815. 

ORDERED,  That  one  thousand  copies  of  the  following 
described  documents  be  published  in  a  pamphlet,  viz.  :  Report 
of  theProceedingsofthe  Hartford  Convention  ;  Report  of  the 
Hon.  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  Thomas  H.  Perkins  and  William 
Sullivan,  Esquires,  relative  to  a  mission  to  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  dated  the  15th  of  May  last ;  Letter  of  the 
Hon.  Timothy  Pickering  and  others,  Representatives  from  this 
Commonwealth  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  dated 
March  3,  1815  ;  Report  and  Resolutions  of  the  State  of  Penn 
sylvania  ;  Letter  of  Governor  Pennington,  of  New- Jersey, 
dated  February  20,  1815,  and  papers  accompanying  ;  Letter 
of  Governor  Torapkins,  of  New- York,  with  the  papers  accom 
panying  ;  which  accompanied  his  Excellency  the  Governor's 
speech. 

Attest,        S.  F.  McCLEARY,  Clerk. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

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